Motion Control of a 6WD/6WS wheeled platform with in-wheel motors to improve its maneuverability

Multi-axle driving mobile platform that are favored in special environments require high driving performance, steering performance, and stability. Among these, six wheel drive and six wheel steering vehicles hereinafter called 6WD/6WS, gain structural safety by distributing the load and reducing the pitching motion during rapid acceleration and braking. 6WD/6WS mobile platforms are favorable for military use, particularly in off-road operations because of their high maneuverability and mobility on extreme terrains and obstacles. 6WD vehicles that use in-wheel motors can generate independent wheel torque without a need for additional hardware. Conventional vehicles, however, cannot generate an opposite driving force on wheels on both sides. In an independent steering and driving system six-wheel vehicles show better performance than conventional vehicles. This paper discusses the improvement of the cornering performance and maneuverability of 6WD/6WS mobile platform using independent wheel torque and independent steering on each wheel. 6WD/6WS vehicles fundamentally have satisfactory maneuverability under low speed, and sufficient stability at high speed. Consequently, there should be a control strategy for improving their cornering performance using the optimum tire forces that satisfy the driver’s command and minimize energy consumption. From the driver’s commands (i.e., the steering angle and accelerator/brake pedal stroke), the desired yaw moment with virtual steering, desired lateral force, and desired longitudinal force are obtained. These three values are distributed to each wheel as torque and steering angle, based on the optimum tire force distribution method. The optimum tire force distribution method finds the longitudinal/lateral tire forces of each wheel that minimize cost function, which is the sum of the normalized tire forces. This paper describes a 6WS/6WD vehicle with improved cornering performance and the results are validated through TruckSim simulations.

     

Integrated vehicle control through the coordination of longitudinal/lateral and vertical dynamics controllers: Flatness and LPV/‐based design

This paper deals with global chassis control of automotive vehicles. It focuses on the coordination of suspension and steering/braking vehicle controllers based on the interaction between the vertical and lateral behaviors of the vehicle. It is shown that the lateral acceleration and resulting roll motion of the car generate load transfers that considerably affect vehicle stability. A control law is designed in hierarchical way to improve the overall dynamics of the vehicle and cope with coupled driving maneuvers like obstacle avoidance using steering control and stop‐and‐go control using braking or driving wheel torque. This global control strategy includes two types of controllers. The first one is the longitudinal/lateral nonlinear flatness controller. Based on an appropriate choice of flat outputs, the flatness proof of a 3 DOF two‐wheel nonlinear vehicle model is established. Then, the combined longitudinal and lateral vehicle control is designed using algebraic estimation techniques to provide an accurate estimation of the derivatives and filtering of the reference flat outputs. The second part of the proposed strategy consists of a linear parameter‐varying/ suspension controller. This controller uses lateral acceleration as a varying parameter to account for load transfers that directly affect the suspension system. The coordination between the vehicle vertical and lateral dynamics is highlighted in this study, and the linear parameter‐varying/ framework ensures a specific collaborative coordination between the suspension and the steering/braking controllers, to achieve the desired performance. Simulations on a complex full vehicle model have been validated using experimental data obtained on‐board a real Renault Mégane Coupé. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coupled nonlinear vehicle control: Flatness-based setting with algebraic estimation techniques

A combined nonlinear longitudinal and lateral vehicle control is investigated. Flatness-based nonlinear control and new algebraic estimation techniques for noise removal and numerical differentiation are the main theoretical tools. An accurate automatic path-tracking via vehicle steering angle and driving/braking wheel torque is thus ensured. It combines the control of the lateral and longitudinal motions in order to track straight or curved trajectories and to perform a combined lane-keeping and steering control during critical driving situations such as obstacle avoidance, stop-and-go control, lane-change maneuvers or any other maneuvers. Promising results have been obtained with noisy experimental data, which were acquired by a laboratory vehicle with high dynamic loads and high lateral accelerations.     

三维动态环境下多无人机编队分布式保持控制

针对无人机编队沿参考轨迹飞行时遭遇突发障碍物而发生碰撞的问题, 提出一种可实时避障及机间避碰的分布式编队保持算法. 基于虚拟结构编队策略, 采用非线性模型预测控制(NMPC) 方法设计分布式编队控制器. 为了实现通讯延迟下的机间避碰, 采用基于不同优先级的改进避碰惩罚策略. 仿真结果表明, 所设计的分布式编队控制器能保证编队及时避开环境中的突发障碍物, 且无人机间不发生互碰, 避障后的各编队继续以原队形沿参考轨迹飞行.

     

四轮转向车辆操纵稳定性仿真分析

对四轮转向车辆的转向特性进行了理论分析,并对某控制策略的四轮转向车辆为例进行了仿真.建立了四轮转向车辆操纵动力学模型,分析了前轮角阶跃输入下四轮转向车辆的稳态响应和瞬态响应与传统前轮转向车辆的主要区别;在四轮转向车辆状态方程的基础上二求解出横摆角速度和侧向加速度与前轮转角的传递函数,与前轮转向车辆对比分析了传递函数零、极点位置对响应特性的影响.借助Matlab/Simulink,对四轮转向车辆进行仿真,发现仿真结果与理论分析吻合.将仿真结果与前轮转向车辆进行比较,阐明了四轮转向车辆的性能优势.研究结果可为评价四轮转向车辆的系统设计提供理论依据.     

Nested PID steering control for lane keeping in autonomous vehicles

In this paper a nested PID steering control in vision based autonomous vehicles is designed and experimentally tested to perform path following in the case of roads with an uncertain curvature. The control input is the steering wheel angle: it is designed on the basis of the yaw rate, measured by a gyroscope, and the lateral offset, measured by the vision system as the distance between the road centerline and a virtual point at a fixed distance from the vehicle. No lateral acceleration and no lateral speed measurements are required. A PI active front steering control based on the yaw rate tracking error is used to improve the vehicle steering dynamics. The yaw rate reference is computed by an external control loop which is designed using a PID control with a double integral action based on the lateral offset to reject the disturbances on the curvature which increase linearly with respect to time. The proposed control scheme leads to a nested architecture with two independent control loops that allows us to design standard PID controls in a multivariable context (two outputs, one input). The robustness of the controlled system is theoretically investigated with respect to speed variations and uncertain vehicle physical parameters. Several simulations are carried out on a standard big sedan CarSim vehicle model to explore the robustness with respect to unmodelled effects. The simulations show reduced lateral offset and new stable μ-split braking maneuvres in comparison with the model predictive steering controller implemented by CarSim. Finally the proposed control law is successfully tested by experiments using a Peugeot 307 prototype vehicle on the test track in Satory, 20 km west of Paris.     

Disturbance Observer Based Control for Four Wheel Steering Vehicles With Model Reference

This paper presents a disturbance observer based control strategy for four wheel steering systems in order to improve vehicle handling stability. By combination of feedforward control and feedback control, the front and rear wheel steering angles are controlled simultaneously to follow both the desired sideslip angle and the yaw rate of the reference vehicle model. A nonlinear three degree-of-freedom four wheel steering vehicle model containing lateral, yaw and roll motions is built up, which also takes the dynamic effects of crosswind into consideration. The disturbance observer based control method is provided to cope with ignored nonlinear dynamics and to handle exogenous disturbances. Finally, a simulation experiment is carried out, which shows that the proposed four wheel steering vehicle can guarantee handling stability and present strong robustness against external disturbances.      

考虑高速公路横向坡道转向行驶操纵稳定性的汽车轴距和轮距分析

为分析汽车轴距和轮距设计对操纵稳定性的影响,建立高速公路横向坡道转向行驶的汽车转向动力学模型,并在MATLAB/Simulink软件中建立相应的仿真模型.采用某型汽车设计轴距和轮距进行仿真,得到以不同速度在不同横向坡度道路上转向行驶时的横摆角速度、侧向加速度和质心侧偏角.根据该型汽车的转向特性和侧翻阈值评价其在高速公路...     

Automatic lateral emergency collision avoidance for a passenger car

Longitudinal collision avoidance controllers are of limited benefit for preventing head-on collisions between road vehicles travelling at high speed or for preventing rear end collisions when there is insufficient separation between the vehicles. In these circumstances, aggressive lateral vehicle manoeuvres are more appropriate. This paper develops a controller architecture to perform an emergency lateral collision avoidance manoeuvre. Simulation results indicate significant improvements in collision avoidance at vehicle speeds up to 100 [km/hr] using integrated automatic steering and braking.     

基于道路摩擦系数估计的智能小车紧急避障策略研究

雾霾环境下驾驶员的视野受到限制,无法准确估计周围的环境信息,对行车安全具有重大影响.自主紧急制动(AEB)系统是一种重要的车辆主动安全功能,用来避免碰撞或减轻碰撞程度.通常,AEB系统利用一个碰撞时间TTC衡量与障碍物发生碰撞的危险程度.通常设计用于制动的TTC门槛值时假设道路摩擦系数为常数,然而,道路情况复杂多变,道路摩擦系数也是变化的,驾驶员在雾霾环境下更难准确估计道路摩擦系数.因此,开发了一个考虑不同摩擦系数对TTC门槛值影响的AEB控制策略.首先用一个复合滑移率轮胎模型来估计峰值道路摩擦系数,再用该系数计算TTC的门槛值,进而利用该Trc门槛值衡量与障碍物发生碰撞的危险程度.因为可以实时识别道路摩擦系数,提出的AEB策略可以自适应雾霾环境下不同的道路表面.仿真结果表明了该方法的有效性.     

Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Driver Noncooperative-Game Steering Control Behavior

This paper investigates two noncooperative-game strategies which may be used to represent a human driver's steering control behavior in response to vehicle automated steering intervention.The first strategy,namely the Nash strategy is derived based on the assumption that a Nash equilibrium is reached in a noncooperative game of vehicle path-following control involving a driver and a vehicle automated steering controller.The second one,namely the Stackelberg strategy is derived based on the assumption that a Stackelberg equilibrium is reached in a similar context.A simulation study is performed to study the differences between the two proposed noncooperativegame strategies.An experiment using a fixed-base driving simulator is carried out to measure six test drivers'steering behavior in response to vehicle automated steering intervention.The Nash strategy is then fitted to measured driver steering wheel angles following a model identification procedure.Control weight parameters involved in the Nash strategy are identified.It is found that the proposed Nash strategy with the identified control weights is capable of representing the trend of measured driver steering behavior and vehicle lateral responses.It is also found that the proposed Nash strategy is superior to the classic driver steering control strategy which has widely been used for modeling driver steering control over the past.A discussion on improving automated steering control using the gained knowledge of driver noncooperative-game steering control behavior was made.     

线控转向汽车防侧翻稳定性控制

通过线控转向（Steer by Wire,SBW）系统控制汽车方向盘转角提高某汽车在极限行驶中抗侧翻能力.建立SBW整车模型,基于紧急避让、紧急掉头和蛇行运动等3种危险操纵稳定性工况分析,得出该车易侧翻的结论.提出基于横向载荷转移率(Lateral Load Transfer Ratio, LTR)的车辆动态防侧翻控制算法,通过SIMULINK与CarSim的联合仿真平台,建立转向优化控制模型.仿真结果表明在典型工况下该车防侧翻性能得到明显改善.     

四轮转向车辆转向解耦的双点跟踪控制

针对四轮转向(4WS)无人车辆路径跟踪中的过约束问题, 本文提出一种前后轮转向解耦的双点跟踪控制策略. 建立4WS车辆单轨运动学模型, 约束前后轮转向角速度, 规划曲率连续的回旋曲线参考位姿序列, 将其解耦为前后轴中心的双点参考轨迹; 以前后轮中心点为控制点, 采用非线性反馈控制的预瞄方法分别获得转向控制率, 双点跟踪误差指数收敛于0. 仿真和实车验证结果表明, 所提出的双点跟踪控制策略横向误差标准差减少0.2 m, 横摆角误差标准差减小3.0?, 具有更大的前后轮转角控制域和较高的跟踪精度     

Yaw Moment Control Strategy for Four Wheel Side Driven EV

When four wheel side driven EV travals in steering or changes lanes in high speed, the vehicle is easy to side-slip or flick due to the difference of wheel hub motor and a direct effect of vehicle nonlinear factors on vehicle yaw motion, which would affect vehicle handling and stability seriously. To solve this problem, a joint control strategy, combined with the linear programming algorithm and improved sliding mode algorithm, which combines the exponential reaching law and saturation function was proposed. Firstly, the vehicle dynamics model and the reference model according with the structure and driving characteristics of four wheel side driven EV were set up. Then, introduced the basic method of the improved sliding mode variable structure control and complete the sliding mode variable structure controller design basic on vehicle sideslip angle and yaw velocity.The controller accomplish optimal allocation of vehicle braking force through a linear programming algorithm, according to yaw moment produced by the vehicle motion state. Single lane driving simulation results show that the proposed control strategy can not only control vehicle sideslip angle and yaw velocity well, but also accomplish good controlling of the vehicle yaw moment, so as to significantly improve the handling and stability of vehicle.     

自动驾驶4WS车辆路径跟踪最优控制算法仿真

针对自动驾驶车辆高速主动转向工况下传统的控制算法的控制效果容易出现较多的超调量和较长调节时间的问题,提出了基于车辆动力学模型的轨迹预测跟踪主动转向控制算法,并基于轮胎侧偏刚度非线性的特性设计了权系数线性最优二次型(LQR)后轮转角控制算法,通过联合仿真对控制算法效果进行了验证。仿真结果表明:自动驾驶四轮转向车辆在低、高速工况下进行自主换道行驶时,算法控制效果满足汽车操纵稳定性要求,且权系数LQR后轮转向算法比定侧偏刚度的LQR线性控制算法有更优越的操控性能。     

低附着路面的弯道制动控制策略研究

为了解决车辆在低附着弯道路面制动中载荷转移造成的汽车失稳问题,建立7自由度整车模型。通过分析整车弯道制动过程的动态特性,推导出制动力与滑移率的关系,提出了纠正转向中车辆失稳的措施,设计了以滑移率为主的门限值控制方法。仿真验证了该方法能够有效提高制动稳定性。     

MPC-based approach to optimized steering for minimum turning radius and efficient steering of multi-axle crane

In a conventional steering system for a multi-axle crane, the steering angle of each axle is determined according to Ackermann’s steering principle, which minimizes the slip angles of the tires. The role of optimal steering control in improving a driver’s steering efficiency is hardly considered in Ackermann’s principle. To address this problem, this paper proposes a control strategy for determining the optimal steering angles for a multi-axle crane and thereby improving a driver’s steering efficiency by applying the model predictive control (MPC) algorithm and defining a driver’s intentions. A simplified crane model for the steering system was developed using a bicycle model, and a comparative study was carried out via simulation to analyze steering performance for the conventional (Ackermann) and proposed steering control systems for the cases of all-wheel steering and road steering modes. The simulation results show that both the minimum turning radius and the driver’s steering effort are decreased more by the proposed steering control system than by conventional system and that the proposed control strategy therefore yields better steering performance.

     

Robust cascaded automatic cruise control of electric vehicles

This article focuses on automatic cruise control for electrically driven vehicles. The objective is to track a given vehicle‐velocity profile. For this type of application, the so‐called wheel slip plays a key role, as it is a measure for the force transmitted from the wheel to the road. Conventional wheel‐ slip controllers are usually activated if the absolute value of the slip exceeds pre‐assumed thresholds. Furthermore, it is distinguished between a braking and acceleration maneuver using separately designed and implemented controllers. In contrast, the proposed concept requires neither an activation strategy for the slip controller nor a distinction between braking and acceleration. The cascaded control structure is based upon adaptive‐gains super twisting sliding‐mode algorithm, and the friction force estimator is realized as a second‐order sliding‐mode observer with constant gains. The effectiveness and robustness of the proposed concept are demonstrated in numerical simulations using a complex multibody vehicle model. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lateral acceleration potential field function control for rollover safety of multi-wheel military vehicle with in-wheel-motors

This article proposes an automatic longitudinal deceleration based method for multi-wheel vehicle rollover safety in autonomous mode. The information of lateral acceleration and vehicle roll angle is used to generate the longitudinal acceleration at which the vehicle will remain stable to rollover. The lateral and roll dynamics are coupled with longitudinal dynamics using a potential field function for lateral acceleration. This virtual potential field is developed on g-g diagram which represents vehicle portrait of lateral and longitudinal acceleration on abscissa and ordinate respectively. The motion of vehicle is represented by a point moving on this phase portrait of g-g diagram. TruckSim model of multi-wheel military vehicle with in-wheel motors is used with this algorithm which shows that the vehicle is less susceptible to rollover. The safe longitudinal acceleration is achieved by torque control of in-wheel motors fitted in each wheel. Using this method, the vehicle followed the desired trajectory as higher speeds which are safe. This is particularly useful for vehicle autonomous driving with rollover stability.

     

An intelligent approach to the lateral forces usage in controlling the vehicle yaw rate

A direct yaw moment control system (DYC) is designed to improve the handling and stability of a four‐wheel‐drive electric vehicle. The main task of this paper is to use the lateral forces in the process of optimally controlling vehicle stability. This is performed by defining a variable optimum region for the slip ratio of each wheel. A hierarchical structure is selected to design the control system. The higher‐level control system controls the yaw rate of the vehicle based on the fuzzy logic technique. The lower‐level control system, installed in each wheel, maintains the slip ratio of the same wheel within an optimum region using the fuzzy logic technique. This optimum region for each wheel is continuously modified based on the impact of the lateral force on the generated control yaw moment and the friction coefficient of the road. Therefore, an algorithm for estimation of the friction coefficient is proposed. Computer simulations are carried out to investigate the effectiveness of the proposed method. This is accomplished by comparison of the results of control methods with a fixed slip ratio region and the results of the proposed method with a variable slip ratio region in some maneuvers. The robustness of the proposed controller against hard braking and noise contamination, as well as the effect of steering wheel angle amplitude, is verified. The simulation results show that the influence of the proposed method on enhancing vehicle performance is significant. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society