Combined Control Allocation and Sliding Mode Control in the Dynamic Control of a Vehicle with Eight In-Wheel Motors

An eight wheel independently driving steering（8 WIDBS）electric vehicle is studied in this paper.The vehicle is equipped with eight in-wheel motors and a steer-by-wire system.A hierarchically coordinated vehicle dynamic control（HCVDC）system,including a high-level vehicle motion controller,a control allocation,an inverse tire model and a lower-level slip/slip angle controller,is proposed for the over-actuated vehicle system.The high-level sliding mode vehicle motion controller is designed to produce desired total forces and yaw moment,distributed to longitudinal and lateral forces of each tire by an advanced control allocation method.And the slip controller is designed to use a sliding mode control method to follow the desired slip ratios by manipulating the corresponding in-wheel motor torques.Evaluation of the overall system is accomplished by sine maneuver simulation.Simulation results confirm that the proposed control system can coordinate among the redundant and constrained actuators to achieve the vehicle dynamic control task and improve the vehicle stability.

Serret-Frenet frame based on path following control for underactuated unmanned surface vehicles with dynamic uncertainties

The path following problem for an underactuated unmanned surface vehicle(USV) in the Serret-Frenet frame is addressed. The control system takes account of the uncertain influence induced by model perturbation, external disturbance, etc. By introducing the Serret-Frenet frame and global coordinate transformation, the control problem of underactuated system(a nonlinear system with single-input and ternate-output) is transformed into the control problem of actuated system(a single-input and single-output nonlinear system), which simplifies the controller design. A backstepping adaptive sliding mode controller(BADSMC)is proposed based on backstepping design technique, adaptive method and theory of dynamic slide model control(DSMC). Then, it is proven that the state of closed loop system is globally stabilized to the desired configuration with the proposed controller. Simulation results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.

A Novel Pre-control Method of Vehicle Dynamics Stability Based on Critical Stable Velocity during Transient Steering Maneuvering

The current research of direct yaw moment control（DYC） system focus on the design of target yaw moment and the distribution of wheel brake force. The differential braking intervention can effectively improve the lateral stability of the vehicle, however, the effect of DYC can be improved a step further by applying the control of vehicle longitudinal velocity. In this paper, the relationship between the vehicle longitudinal velocity and lateral stability is studied, and the simulation results show that a decrease of 5 km/h of longitudinal velocity at a particular situation can bring 100° increasing of stable steering upper limit. A critical stable velocity considering the effect of steering and yaw rate measurement is defined to evaluate the risk of losing steer-ability or stability. A novel velocity pre-control method is proposed by using a hierarchical pre-control logic and is integrated with the traditional DYC system. The control algorithm is verified through a hardware in-the-loop simulation system. Double lane change（DLC） test results on both high friction coefficient（μ） and low μ roads show that by using the pre-control method, the steering effort in DLC test can be reduced by 38% and 51% and the peak value of brake pressure control can be reduced by 20% and 12% respectively on high μ and low μ roads, the lateral stability is also improved. This research proposes a novel DYC system with lighter control effort and better control effect.

Post-Impact Motion Planning and Tracking Control for Autonomous Vehicles

There is an increasing awareness of the need to reduce traffic accidents and fatality due to vehicle collision.Post-impact hazards can be more serious as the driver may fail to maintain effective control after collisions.To avoid subsequent crash events and to stabilize the vehicle,this paper proposes a post-impact motion planning and stability control method for autonomous vehicles.An enabling motion planning method is proposed for post-impact situations by combining the polynomial curve and artificial potential field while considering obstacle avoidance.A hierarchical controller that consists of an upper and a lower controller is then developed to track the planned motion.In the upper controller,a time-varying linear quadratic regulator is presented to calculate the desired generalized forces.In the lower controller,a nonlinear-optimization-based torque allocation algorithm is proposed to optimally coordinate the actuators to realize the desired generalized forces.The proposed scheme is verified under comprehensive driving scenarios through hardware-in-loop tests.

Vehicle path tracking by integrated chassis control

The control problem of trajectory based path following for passenger vehicles is studied. Comprehensive nonlinear vehicle model is utilized for simulation vehicle response during various maneuvers in MATLAB/Simulink. In order to follow desired path, a driver model is developed to enhance closed loop driver/vehicle model. Then, linear quadratic regulator(LQR) controller is developed which regulates direct yaw moment and corrective steering angle on wheels. Particle swam optimization(PSO) method is utilized to optimize the LQR controller for various dynamic conditions. Simulation results indicate that, over various maneuvers, side slip angle and lateral acceleration can be reduced by 10% and 15%, respectively, which sustain the vehicle stable. Also, anti-lock brake system is designed for longitudinal dynamics of vehicle to achieve desired slip during braking and accelerating. Proposed comprehensive controller demonstrates that vehicle steerability can increase by about 15% during severe braking by preventing wheel from locking and reducing stopping distance.

Advances in Active Suspension Systems for Road Vehicles

Active suspension systems(ASSs)have been proposed and developed for a few decades,and have now once again become a thriving topic in both academia and industry,due to the high demand for driving comfort and safety and the compatibility of ASSs with vehicle electrification and autonomy.Existing review papers on ASSs mainly cover dynamics modeling and robust control;however,the gap between academic research outcomes and industrial application requirements has not yet been bridged,hindering most ASS research knowledge from being transferred to vehicle companies.This paper comprehensively reviews advances in ASSs for road vehicles,with a focus on hardware structures and control strategies.In particular,state-of-the-art ASSs that have been recently adopted in production cars are discussed in detail,including the representative solutions of Mercedes active body control(ABC)and Audi predictive active suspension;novel concepts that could become alternative candidates are also introduced,including series active variable geometry suspension,and the active wheel-alignment system.ASSs with compact structure,small mass increment,low power consumption,high-frequency response,acceptable economic costs,and high reliability are more likely to be adopted by car manufacturers.In terms of control strategies,the development of future ASSs aims not only to stabilize the chassis attitude and attenuate the chassis vibration,but also to enable ASSs to cooperate with other modules(e.g.,steering and braking)and sensors(e.g.,cameras)within a car,and even with high-level decision-making(e.g.,reference driving speed)in the overall transportation system-strategies that will be compatible with the rapidly developing electric and autonomous vehicles.

Coordinated Control Architecture for Motion Management in ADAS Systems

Advanced driver assistance systems(ADAS) seek to provide drivers and passengers of automotive vehicles increased safety and comfort. Original equipment manufacturers are integrating and developing systems for distance keeping, lane keeping and changing and other functionalities. The modern automobile is a complex system of systems. How the functionalities of advanced driver assistance are implemented and coordinated across the systems of the vehicle is generally not made available to the wider research community by the developers and manufactures. This paper seeks to begin filling this gap by assembling open source physics models of the vehicle dynamics and ADAS command models. Additionally, in order to facilitate ADAS development and testing without having access to the details of ADAS, a coordinated control architecture for motion management is also proposed for distributing ADAS motion control commands over vehicle systems. The architecture is demonstrated in a case study where motion is coordinated between the steering and the braking systems, which are typically used only for a single functionality. The integrated vehicle and system dynamics using the coordinated control architecture are simulated for various driving tasks. It is seen that improved trajectory following can be achieved by the proposed coordinated control architecture. The models, simulations and control architecture are made available for open access.

Vehicle height and leveling control of electronically controlled air suspension using mixed logical dynamical approach

Vehicle height and leveling control of electronically controlled air suspension(ECAS) still poses theoretical challenges for researchers that have not been adequately addressed in prior research. This paper investigates the design and verification of a new controller to adjust the vehicle height and to regulate the roll and pitch angles of the vehicle body(leveling control) during the height adjustment procedures. A nonlinear mechanism model of the vehicle height adjustment system is formulated to describe the dynamic behaviors of the system. By using mixed logical dynamical(MLD) approach, a novel control strategy is proposed to adjust the vehicle height by controlling the on-off statuses of the solenoid valves directly. On this basis, a correction algorithm is also designed to regulate the durations of the on-off statuses of the solenoid valves based on pulse width modulated(PWM) technology, thus the effective leveling control of the vehicle body can be guaranteed. Finally, simulations and vehicle tests results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed control methodology.

Collision mitigation and vehicle transportation safety using integrated vehicle dynamics control systems

The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of vehicle dynamics control systems （VDCS） on both the collision of the vehicle body and the kinematic behaviour of the ve- hicle＇s occupant in case of offset frontal vehicle-to-vehicle collision. A unique 6-degree-of- freedom （6-DOF） vehicle dynamics/crash mathematical model and a simplified lumped mass occupant model are developed. The first model is used to define the vehicle body crash parameters and it integrates a vehicle dynamics model with a vehicle front-end structure model. The second model aims to predict the effect of VDCS on the kinematics of the occupant. It is shown from the numerical simulations that the vehicle dynamics/crash response and occupant behaviour can be captured and analysed quickly and accurately. Yurthermore, it is shown that the VDCS can affect the crash characteristics positively and the occupant behaviour is improved.

Deep reinforcement learning-based drift parking control of automated vehicles

Drift parking usually requires precise control of a vehicle by a professional driver,which can reflect the performance of the vehicle under critical conditions.The obstacles to implementing this action include the high coupling between the longitudinal and lateral states,the high precision required for the vehicle initial state when the drift is triggered,and the difficulty in determining the reference state variables in the drift process.A two-segment drift parking control system is proposed in this paper.In the approaching control segment,the vehicle achieves the drift-triggered vehicle speed and pose,which relies on a pathtracking algorithm based on linear time-varying model predictive control.In the drifting control segment,the deep reinforcement learning algorithm twin-delayed deep deterministic policy gradient is creatively introduced to the controller design.It solves the precise vehicle motion control problem under the condition of the rear wheels having locked brakes.Through various simulations,the superiority and robustness to different initial conditions and abrupt changes in the parking space are verified.The effectiveness of the proposed control system is verified by a ground test.

Safety effects of work zone advisory systems under the intelligent connected vehicle environment:a microsimulation approach

Purpose–This study aims to investigate the safety effects of work zone advisory systems.The traditional system includes a dynamic message sign(DMS),whereas the advanced system includes an in-vehicle work zone warning application under the connected vehicle(CV)environment.Design/methodology/approach–A comparative analysis was conducted based on the microsimulation experiments.Findings–The results indicate that the CV-based warning system outperforms the DMS.From this study,the optimal distances of placing a DMS varies according to different traffic conditions.Nevertheless,negative influence of excessive distance DMS placed from the work zone would be more obvious when there is heavier traffic volume.Thus,it is recommended that the optimal distance DMS placed from the work zone should be shortened if there is a traffic congestion.It was also revealed that higher market penetration rate of CVs will lead to safer network under good traffic conditions.Research limitations/implications–Because this study used only microsimulation,the results do not reflect the real-world drivers’reactions to DMS and CV warning messages.A series of driving simulator experiments need to be conducted to capture the real driving behaviors so as to investigate the unresolved-related issues.Human machine interface needs be used to simulate the process of in-vehicle warning information delivery.The validation of the simulation model was not conducted because of the data limitation.Practical implications–It suggests for the optimal DMS placement for improving the overall efficiency and safety under the CV environment.Originality/value–A traffic network evaluation method considering both efficiency and safety is proposed by applying traffic simulation.