This paper considers actuator redundancy management for a class of overactuated nonlinear systems. Two tools for distributing the control effort among a redundant set of actuators are optimal control design and control allocation. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between these two design tools when the performance indexes are quadratic in the control input. We show that for a particular class of nonlinear systems, they give exactly the same design freedom in distributing the control effort among the actuators. Linear quadratic optimal control is contained as a special case. A benefit of using a separate control allocator is that actuator constraints can be considered, which is illustrated with a flight control example.

Resolving actuator redundancy: optimal control vs. control allocation

Advanced planning for autonomous vehicles using reinforcement learning and deep inverse reinforcement learning

The path-following problem for four-wheel independently actuated autonomous ground vehicles is investigated in this paper. A novel output constraint controller is proposed to deal with the lateral offset control in path following and maintain the vehicle lateral stability in the presence of tire sliding effects. The innovations of this work lie in the following two aspects: 1) A novel output constraint control strategy, namely, the hyperbolic projection method, is proposed to strictly bound the lateral offset to prevent the vehicle from transgressing the safety bound in path following; 2) an adaptive and robust linear quadratic regulator controller is adopted to obtain the optimal active front-wheel steering and direct yaw-moment control inputs with vehicle lateral stability consideration and to eliminate the effect of parameter uncertainties. CarSim–Simulink joint simulation results indicate that the proposed controller can compactly bound the lateral offset to avoid transgressing the safe boundary during path following, particularly in extreme driving conditions, in the presence of tire sliding effects and system uncertainties.

Output Constraint Control on Path Following of Four-Wheel Independently Actuated Autonomous Ground Vehicles

Fully electric vehicles (FEVs) with individually controlled powertrains can significantly enhance vehicle response to steering-wheel inputs in both steady-state and transient conditions, thereby improving vehicle handling and, thus, active safety and the fun-to-drive element. This paper presents a comparison between different torque-vectoring control structures for the yaw moment control of FEVs. Two second-order sliding-mode controllers are evaluated against a feedforward controller combined with either a conventional or an adaptive proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller. Furthermore, the potential performance and robustness benefits arising from the integration of a body sideslip controller with the yaw rate feedback control system are assessed. The results show that all the evaluated controllers are able to significantly change the understeer behavior with respect to the baseline vehicle. The PID-based controllers achieve very good vehicle performance in steady-state and transient conditions, whereas the controllers based on the sliding-mode approach demonstrate a high level of robustness against variations in the vehicle parameters. The integrated sideslip controller effectively maintains the sideslip angle within acceptable limits in the case of an erroneous estimation of the tire-road friction coefficient.

Comparison of Feedback Control Techniques for Torque-Vectoring Control of Fully Electric Vehicles

Direct yaw moment control actuated through electric drivetrains and friction brakes: Theoretical design and experimental assessment

© 2012 WEVA.This paper deals with the description of current and future vehicle technology related to yaw moment control, anti-lock braking and traction control through the employment of effective torque vectoring strategies for electric vehicles. In particular, the adoption of individually controlled electric powertrains with the aim of tuning the vehicle dynamic characteristics in steady-state and transient conditions is discussed. This subject is currently investigated within the European Union (EU) funded Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) consortium E-VECTOORC, focused on the development and experimental testing of novel control strategies. Through a comprehensive literature review, the article outlines the stateof- the-art of torque vectoring control for fully electric vehicles and presents the philosophy and the potential impact of the E-VECTOORC control structure from the viewpoint of torque vectoring for vehicle dynamics enhancement.

Torque Vectoring for Electric Vehicles with Individually Controlled Motors: State-of-the-Art and Future Developments

Vehicle motion control with subsystem prioritization

Influence of the Tire Inflation Pressure Variation on Braking Efficiency and Driving Comfort of Full Electric Vehicle with Continuous Anti-Lock Braking System

Kristian Hoepping

Papers

Torque Vectoring for Electric Vehicles with Individually Controlled Motors: State-of-the-Art and Future Developments

Vehicle motion control with subsystem prioritization

Influence of the Tire Inflation Pressure Variation on Braking Efficiency and Driving Comfort of Full Electric Vehicle with Continuous Anti-Lock Braking System

Influence of the Tire Inflation Pressure Variation on Braking Efficiency and Driving Comfort of Full Electric Vehicle with Continuous Anti-Lock Braking System