A practical identifier design of road variations for anti-lock brake system

Emergency brake technologies have always been a major interest of vehicle active safety-related studies. On homogeneous surfaces, traditional anti-lock brake system (ABS) can achieve efficient braking performance and maintain the handling capability as well. However, when road conditions are time variant during the braking process, or different at the bilateral wheels, braking stability performance is likely to be degraded. To address this problem and enhance ABS performances, a practical identifier of road variations is developed in this study. The proposed identifier adopts a statechart-based approach and is hierarchically constructed with a wheel layer and a full vehicle layer identifier. Based on the identification results, modifications are made to a four-phase wheel-behaviour-based ABS controller to enhance its performance. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed identifier in collaborating with the modified ABS controller are examined via simulations and further validated by track tests under various practical braking scenarios.