Model predictive control of vehicle stability using coordinated active steering and differential brakes

This paper studies model predictive control of lateral stability of vehicles using coordinated active front steering and differential brakes. The controller is designed based on a bicycle model of the vehicle and the moment of the differential brakes is considered as an external torque. The prediction model calculates the prospective values of the vehicle’s yaw rate, lateral velocity, and tire slip angles over the prediction window. The sideslip angle of the vehicle is enforced within a permissible range using soft constraints on the lateral velocity in order to guarantee persistent feasibility. Using computer simulations, the controller is shown to provide proactive control actions to control the vehicle’s sideslip angle. The closed-loop response of the controller is also studied in experimental tests on an instrumented test vehicle. The results show satisfactory performance in various combinations of active front steering and differential brakes. In addition, the computational time of the controller is measured and shown to be safely below the sample time of the controller.