A Universal and Reconfigurable Stability Control Methodology for Articulated Vehicles With Any Configurations
Yubiao Zhang, Amir Khajepour, Mansour Ataei
Abstract
To meet with many different transportation needs, it comes in a rich diversity and variety of articulated vehicles. Vehicle combinations are seen in different axle configurations, number of articulations, powertrain, active actuation systems, etc. This research is, therefore, motivated to develop a model-based control system in a universal and reconfigurable fashion to any articulated vehicles stability control. To achieve its universality and reconfigurability, we introduce a hierarchical (two-layer) control system. Namely, the high layer formulates a model predictive control (MPC) tracking problem to generate corrective Center of Gravity (C.G.) forces/moment. The lower-level controller is formulated as Control Allocation (CA) algorithm to regulate steering or torque (brake) at each wheel optimally and reconfigurable as to meet high-level calculations. Real-time constraints, i.e. actuator limits, tire capacity, and actuator failure are discussed. Diverse applications are presented that the universal and reconfigurable methodology is handy, capable and effective on stability control while applying to various vehicle configurations and objectives.