Robust hierarchical controller with conditional integrator based on small gain theorem for reference trajectory tracking of autonomous vehicles

ABSTRACT

A robust trajectory tracking controller is designed for autonomous vehicles based on a hierarchical architecture to make the autonomous vehicle track a given reference trajectory. The controller consists of two sub controllers: kinematic controller and dynamic controller. Based on the kinematics of tracking reference trajectory, a desired yaw rate is calculated by kinematic controller to make the lateral deviation global asymptotic stable. Then, steering wheel angle is calculated by a vehicle dynamic controller to make the vehicle yaw rate converge to the desired value and make the vehicle dynamic stable. Conditional integration method is used in the sub controllers. This method guarantees global asymptotic stability of tracking reference values and considers the uncertainty of parameters and constraints of desired yaw rate and actuators. Then based on small-gain theorem, the condition of the finite-gain L stability is given to the hierarchical controller to ensure the interconnected sub systems stable and prevent the amplification of system disturbance. Finally, the effectiveness and robustness of the controller are validated by real vehicle experiments.     

基于高精地图的物流配送车路径规划与跟踪控制

为了解决园区等场景下无人车多途经点配送问题,提出了一种基于矢量化高精地图的车道级全局路径规划、生成和跟踪控制方法。考虑配送车往返途经点顺序对行驶路径总长度的影响,基于高精地图采用A*算法计算各配送点间的最优路径,在此基础上,利用动态规划算法求解经过多个配送点的全局最优路径。应用贝塞尔曲线对规划的路径进行平滑,并根据道路曲率设定不同路径处的参考行驶速度,进而生成车道级的可用于跟踪的目标轨迹。利用车辆二自由度模型设计模型预测控制器进行轨迹跟踪,实现低速物流配送车的自主控制。在 CarSim/Prescan/Simulink联合仿真平台和实车平台上对提出的规划控制方法进行了试验。结果表明,相比传统的依据最近配送点策略确定的路径,所提出的方法搜索出的路径长度平均缩短了 6.15%。所设计的轨迹跟踪控制器能确保配送试验车与目标轨迹的横向偏差在 0.25 m 以内,航向角偏差在5°以内。     

基于车辆动力学模型的换道轨迹规划研究

针对自动驾驶车辆换道轨迹规划时的操纵稳定性问题，基于CarSim/Simulink仿真平台建立了车辆动力学模型，构建了轨迹规划系统框架，通过轨迹信息后处理并提出了目标函数设计，进行了横向控制序列采样以保证车辆的稳定与极限性能，完成了算法对轨迹的综合评价选优。随后开展了仿真试验，对比分析了轨迹跟踪控制系统下的实际轨迹、最优规划方法所规划的换道轨迹。仿真结果表明，该轨迹规划系统框架及算法模型能有效提高车辆的操纵稳定性，可实现冰雪路面等极端工况下自动驾驶车辆换道轨迹规划。     

面向车道变换的路径规划及模型预测轨迹跟踪

为解决智能车辆在车道变换过程中的路径规划和路径跟踪问题,首先,利用梯形加速度法设计了车道变换虚拟理想轨迹,该路径规划方法的适应性取决于车道变换时间、横向加速度及变化率等关键变量的约束条件,因而对各关键变量之间的数学关系进行了定量计算,并绘制了不同工况下的车道变换虚拟理想轨迹,用于分析各关键变量对路径规划的影响;其次,建立了线性离散的车辆动力学预测模型,综合分析了车辆模型的控制输入、状态变量以及道路结构参数等约束条件,构建了多约束模型预测控制（MMPC）系统用于车道变换路径跟踪,并基于Hildreth二次规划算法对其目标函数进行了求解,获得前轮转向角控制量,从而保证智能车辆在车道变换过程中的路径跟踪性能及操纵稳定性能;最后,利用MATLAB和Carsim软件对提出的多约束模型预测控制系统进行联合仿真,并构建单约束模型预测控制（SMPC）系统与其进行性能比较,分别对车道变换时间为3 s和6 s时的车道变换性能进行比较分析。结果表明：当车道变换时间为6 s时,2种控制系统都能较好地实现车道变换功能;当车道变换时间为3 s时,与SMPC控制系统相比较,MMPC控制系统能够在有效跟踪期望行驶路径的同时改善车辆的操纵稳定性,从而提高车辆在路径跟踪过程中的主动安全性能。     

Effects of Model Complexity on the Performance of Automated Vehicle Steering Controllers: Controller Development and Evaluation

SUMMARY

Due to increased traffic congestion and travel times, research in Advanced Vehicle Control Systems (AVCS) has focused on automated lateral and headway control. Automated vehicles are seen as a way to increase freeway capacity and vehicle speeds while reducing accidents due to human error. Recent research in automated lateral control has focused on vehicle control during low-g maneuvers. To increase safety, automated lateral controllers will need to recognize and react to emergency situations.

This paper investigates the effects of vehicle and tire model order on the response of automated vehicles to an emergency step lane change using a controller based on linear vehicle and tire models. From these studies it is concluded that control strategies based solely on linear vehicle and tire models are inadequate for emergency vehicle maneuvers.

A strategy is then proposed to automatically control vehicles through emergency maneuvers. Here the response of a nonlinear vehicle model is used with a linear state model to optimize controller gains for nonlinear maneuvers. An emergency step lane change is used as a preliminary test of the method.     

A passenger car driver model for higher lateral accelerations

Due to increasing demands for time and cost efficient vehicle and driver assistant systems development, numerical simulation of closed-loop manoeuvres becomes increasingly important. Thus, the driver has to be considered in the modelling. On the basis of a two-layer approach to model a driver's steering behaviour, the field of application is extended to higher lateral accelerations in this study. An analytical method to determine the driver parameters is presented, which is based on the two-wheel vehicle model. The simulation results are determined using a full vehicle model including all essential nonlinearities. Standard manoeuvres in the nonlinear range of vehicle handling behaviour are performed. A cornering manoeuvre is chosen to show the characteristics of the proposed driver model.     

A passenger car driver model for higher lateral accelerations

Due to increasing demands for time and cost efficient vehicle and driver assistant systems development, numerical simulation of closed-loop manoeuvres becomes increasingly important. Thus, the driver has to be considered in the modelling. On the basis of a two-layer approach to model a driver's steering behaviour, the field of application is extended to higher lateral accelerations in this study. An analytical method to determine the driver parameters is presented, which is based on the two-wheel vehicle model. The simulation results are determined using a full vehicle model including all essential nonlinearities. Standard manoeuvres in the nonlinear range of vehicle handling behaviour are performed. A cornering manoeuvre is chosen to show the characteristics of the proposed driver model.     

Design of rollover prevention controller with linear matrix inequality-based trajectory sensitivity minimisation

This paper presents a method to design a rollover prevention controller for vehicle systems. The vehicle rollover can be prevented by a controller that minimises the lateral acceleration and the roll angle. Rollover prevention capability can be enhanced if the controlled vehicle system is robust to the variation of the height of the centre of gravity and the speed of the vehicle. For this purpose, a robust controller is designed with linear matrix inequality-based trajectory sensitivity minimisation. Differential braking and active suspension are adopted as actuators that generate yaw and roll moments, respectively. The newly proposed method is shown to be effective in preventing rollover by the simulation on a non-linear multibody dynamic simulation software, CarSim^®.     

基于状态空间采样的高速公路智能网联车辆轨迹动态规划

为实现智能网联车辆在高速公路动态行车环境下的轨迹实时规划，提出一种基于状态空间采样的轨迹动态规划方法。首先，以安全性为原则选取主车当前行驶的理想车道。基于Frenet坐标与笛卡尔坐标的转换关系，建立车辆运动横、纵向解耦的独立积分系统。将高速公路常见的行驶状态分为车道保持与定速巡航、变道以及前车跟随3类，预测主车行驶车道并针对3类行驶状态分别设计轨迹终端的目标配置方法。然后，利用多项式函数生成连接初始配置和目标配置的多条待选轨迹。构建考虑轨迹偏离理想车道程度、始末速度变化、规划周期和轨迹舒适性的综合损失函数，结合速度、加速度、曲率检查来评价各条待选轨迹的成本并进行排序。最后，预测车辆的横、纵向运动轨迹并构建一种胶囊形的车辆虚拟安全边界，通过碰撞检测，确定主车的最优轨迹，设置动态规划触发条件及时更新最优轨迹并避免过度规划浪费资源。研究结果表明：提出的算法能满足高速公路场景的动态规划需求；通过对轨迹规划周期、虚拟安全边界、动态规划时间间隔等关键参数的分析与优化，主车的横摆角速度范围稳定在-0.1~0.15 (°)·s^-1，横向加速度范围稳定在-0.16~0.32 m·s^-2，跟踪参考轨迹的最大误差不超过0.022 m，提出的算法能规划出具有高安全性、稳定性和舒适性的轨迹。     

Black-box modelling of nonlinear railway vehicle dynamics for track geometry assessment using neural networks

ABSTRACT

The use of vehicle dynamics simulation for the track geometry assessment gives rise to new demands. In order to analyse the responses of the vehicles to the measured track geometry defects, the integration of the simulation process in the measurement chain of the track geometry recording car is envisaged. Fast and reliable simulation results are required. This work studies the use of black-box modelling approaches as an alternative to multi-body simulation. The performances of different linear and nonlinear black-box models for the simulation of the vertical and lateral bogie accelerations are compared. While linear transfer function models give good results for the simulation of the vertical responses, their use is not suitable for the highly nonlinear lateral vehicle dynamics. The lateral accelerations are best represented by recurrent neural networks. For the training and validation on high-speed lines using measured vehicle responses, the performance of the black-box simulation outperforms the multi-body simulation. Due to the larger variability of track design and track quality conditions on conventional lines, the model performance degrades and depends significantly on the analysed vehicle type and the track characteristics.     

基于模型预测控制的智能车轨迹跟踪控制研究

为了完成智能车的轨迹跟踪,提出一种基于模型预测控制的轨迹跟踪方法,利用将运动学模型这个非线性系统线性化的方案,来获得必须的线性时变系统,采取模型预测控制的三要素来设计控制器。并且基于MPC在控制过程中能增加多种约束的优点,建立基于车辆运动学模型的约束做轨迹跟踪仿真实验,最后,基于山东理工大学智能车平台上GPS提供的定位信息,在校园中采集路线并对前提规划好的的轨迹进行实车验证。实验结果表明:基于MPC算法所设计的控制器能快速且稳定地跟踪期望轨迹。     

基于hp自适应伪谱法的智能汽车紧急变道轨迹规划与优化

为了提高智能汽车紧急变道轨迹规划的实时性和适应性,将紧急变道过程分为初始阶段和跟踪阶段,初始阶段的轨迹由优秀驾驶人紧急变道模型产生,跟踪阶段的轨迹采用Sigmoid函数规划出紧急避让路径。首先通过聚类分析处理优秀驾驶人转向操作的实车试验数据,拟合得出紧急变道过程中的方向盘转角随时间的关系（即驾驶人紧急变道模型）,作为智能汽车在紧急变道初始阶段不同速度下车辆控制的输入量。然后通过建立与求解约束方程,满足避撞约束、侧向位移约束以及最大侧向加速度约束,得出Sigmoid函数表达式,作为智能汽车在紧急变道过程跟踪阶段的参考路径。最后利用hp自适应伪谱法加入切换点的物理量约束,逼近全局正交多项式的状态量和控制量,自动调整和处理2个阶段的切换点位置和衔接问题,以最小变道距离为目标对跟踪阶段的变道轨迹进行优化。运用PreScan与MATLAB对4种不同工况下的紧急变道轨迹规划进行联合仿真。结果表明：提出的轨迹规划与优化方法在满足各项约束的情况下成功避开障碍物,同时缩短了需要优化的轨迹,优化时间都小于0.9 s,并且与基于多项式函数轨迹规划方法相比,该方法能够以距障碍物较远的距离避开障碍物,在不同的车辆速度、道路曲率和障碍物宽度的复杂工况下具有更好的适应性。     

Novel coordinated algorithm for Traction Control System on split friction and slope road

A Traction Control System (TCS) is used to avoid excessive wheel-slip via adjusting active brake pressure and engine torque when vehicle starts fiercely. The split friction and slope of the road are complicated conditions for TCS. Once operated under these conditions, the traction control performance of the vehicle might be deteriorated and the vehicle might lack drive capability or lose lateral stability, if the regulated active brake pressure and engine torque can’t match up promptly and effectively. In order to solve this problem, a novel coordinated algorithm for TCS is brought forward. Firstly, two brake controllers, including a basic controller based on the friction difference between the two drive wheels for compensating this difference and a fuzzy logic controller for assisting the engine torque controller to adjust wheel-slip, are presented for brake control together. And then two engine torque controllers, containing a basic PID controller for wheel-slip control and a fuzzy logic controller for compensating torque needed by the road slope, are built for engine torque control together. Due to the simultaneous and accurate coordination of the two regulated variables the controlled vehicle can start smoothly. The vehicle test and simulation results on various road conditions have testified that the proposed method is effective and robust.     

Connected variable speed limits control and car-following control with vehicle-infrastructure communication to resolve stop-and-go waves

The vision of intelligent vehicles traveling in road networks has prompted numerous concepts to control future traffic flow, one of which is the in-vehicle actuation of traffic control commands. The key of this concept is using intelligent vehicles as actuators for traffic control systems. Under this concept, we design and test a control system that connects a traffic controller with in-vehicle controllers via vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. The link-level traffic controller regulates traffic speeds through variable speed limits (VSL) gantries to resolve stop-and-go waves, while intelligent vehicles control accelerations through vehicle propulsion and brake systems to optimize their local situations. It is assumed that each intelligent vehicle receives VSL commands from the traffic controller and uses them as variable parameters for the local vehicle controller. Feasibility and effectiveness of the connected control paradigm are tested with simulation on a two-lane freeway stretch with intelligent vehicles randomly distributed among human-driven vehicles. Simulation shows that the connected VSL and vehicle control system improves traffic efficiency and sustainability; that is, total time spent in the network and average fuel consumption rate are reduced compared to (uncontrolled and controlled) scenarios with 100% human drivers and to uncontrolled scenarios with the same intelligent vehicle penetration rates.     

FSAC赛车轨迹跟踪协同控制策略研究

针对中国大学生方程式赛车（FSAC）在比赛中横向-纵向协同控制的轨迹跟踪精度和稳定性问题,根据现代控制理论和经典控制理论提出一种以纵向速度为结合点的线性二次控制器（LQR）和比例-积分-微分算法（PID）的横纵向协同控制策略,并根据赛车相对参考轨迹的位置设计了一种协同控制器。建立二自由度车辆动力学模型,基于该模型设计了横向LQR位置跟踪控制器和纵向PID速度跟踪控制器。所设计的控制策略在CarSim和Simulink搭建的循迹工况联合仿真场景下进行仿真验证,仿真结果为纵向位置偏差小于0.07 m,横向位置偏差小于0.03 m。对控制算法进行实车验证,结果表明,该策略有效提高了赛车的轨迹跟踪精度和行驶稳定性。     

智能汽车对无信号交叉口行人的避撞控制

针对智能汽车在无信号交叉口对横穿行人的避撞问题,研究了主动转向避撞控制策略.基于多层模型预测控制方法,采用分层控制策略设计局部规划层控制器与全局跟踪层控制器,在此基础上根据交叉口处汽车与行人的轨迹特征计算人车碰撞剩余时间,改进传统人工势场法构造避撞函数,规划出既能规避交叉口内存在碰撞风险的行人又能使偏差最小的局部避撞路...     

环形交又口信号控制最佳周期计算方法

针对信号控制环形交叉口这一特殊的控制对象,运用理论解析结合计算机仿真检验的方法,分别给出环形交叉口直行和左转的延误计算模型;并在此基础上提出了一种以交叉口车均延误最小为目标,适合于在非饱和状态下采用多进口道放行协同环道控制环形交叉口的最佳周期值计算方法。最后通过模拟试验和实例分析对模型的适用性进行了检验。结果表明:该模型有较高的精度和可靠性,为求解环形交叉口信号控制最佳周期提供了一种有效的新算法。     

智能汽车轨迹跟踪与横摆稳定性协同控制

为了提高四轮独立驱动智能电动汽车在变曲率弯道下的轨迹跟踪精度和横摆稳定性,提出了一种模型预测控制与直接横摆力矩控制协同的综合控制方法。建立了横纵向耦合的车辆动力学模型,采用2阶龙格库塔离散法保证了离散模型的精度,并基于简化的2自由度动力学模型推导了车辆横摆稳定性约束,设计了非线性模型预测控制器;利用直接横摆力矩控制能够改变车辆横摆角速度和航向角的特点,考虑模型预测控制器的预测状态、控制量以及跟踪误差,设计了协同控制规则。仿真结果表明,协同控制方法解决了考虑横摆稳定性约束的模型预测控制器中存在的稳定性约束与控制精度相矛盾的问题,并补偿了模型预测控制器没有可行解时对横摆稳定性的约束,同时提高了智能汽车的轨迹跟踪精度和横摆稳定性。     

Active front wheel steering model and controller for integrated dynamics control systems

We report a model and controller for an active front-wheel steering (AFS) system. Two integrated dynamics control (IDC) systems are designed to investigate the performance of the AFS system when integrated with braking and steering systems. An 8-degrees-of-freedom vehicle model was employed to test the controllers. The controllers were inspected and compared under different driving and road conditions, with and without braking input, and with and without steering input. The results show that the AFS system performs kinematic steering assistance function and kinematic stabilisation function very well. Three controllers allowed the yaw rate to accurately follow a reference yaw rate, improving the lateral stability. The two IDC systems improved the lateral stability and vehicle control and were effective in reducing the sideslip angle.     

Lateral Collision Avoidance Robust Control of Electric Vehicles Combining a Lane-Changing Model Based on Vehicle Edge Turning Trajectory and a Vehicle Semi-Uncertainty Dynamic Model

This paper presents a new control scheme for lateral collision avoidance (CA) systems to improve the safety of four-in-wheel-motor-driven electric vehicles (FIWMD-EVs). There are two major contributions in the design of lateral CA systems. The first contribution is a new lane-changing model based on vehicle edge turning trajectory (VETT) to make vehicle adapt to different driving roads and conform to drivers’ characteristic, in addition to ensure vehicle steering safety. The second contribution is vehicle semi-uncertainty dynamic model (SUDM), which is SISO model. The problem of stability performance without the information on sideslip angle is solved by the proposed SUDM. Based on the proposed VETT and SUDM, the lateral CA system can be designed with H_∞ robust controller to restrain the effect of uncertainties resulting from parameter perturbation and lateral wind disturbance. Single and mixed driving cycles simulation experiments are carried out with CarSim to demonstrate the effectiveness in control scheme, simplicity in structure for lateral CA system based on the proposed VETT and SUDM.