Integrated vehicle control using adaptive control allocation

Abstract

The focus of this paper is an integrated, fault-tolerant vehicle control algorithm for the overall stability of ground vehicles. The proposed scheme comprises a high-level controller that creates a virtual control input and a low-level adaptive control allocator that distributes the virtual control effort among redundant actuators. The proposed control framework distinguishes itself from earlier results in the literature by its ability to blend active suspension, steering and traction control channels, in the presence of uncertainties and time-varying dynamics, without the need for fault identification. The control structure is validated in the simulation environment using a fourteen-degree-of-freedom non-linear vehicle model. The integrated controller is compared to the case of a conventional control approach where each control problem is solved separately. Our results show that, compared to the conventional approach, the proposed method ensures that the vehicle follows driver inputs with up to % higher longitudinal maneuver velocity, despite the presence of actuator failures and slippery road conditions. Furthermore, to demonstrate the benefit of integrating active suspension control to the overall control scheme, we replaced the suspension control of the proposed approach with an independent suspension control system for comparison purposes. We then showed that the integrated case provided % lower roll angle deviation, and % lower pitch angle deviation, in the presence of actuator effectiveness loss and adverse road conditions.