Coordination of active steering, driveline, and braking for integrated vehicle dynamics control

Abstract

An integrated vehicle dynamics control system which aims to improve vehicle handling and stability by coordinating active front steering (AFS) and dynamic stability control (DSC) subsystems is developed in this paper. The DSC subsystem includes driveline-based, brake-based, and driveline plus brake-based DSC subsystems. The influence of varying forward speed and lateral acceleration on the lateral vehicle dynamics is investigated first. The AFS controller, which is used to improve vehicle steerability in the low to mid-range lateral acceleration, and the DSC controller, which manages to maintain vehicle stability during extreme driving situations, are then designed by using the sliding mode control (SMC) technique and phase plane method respectively. Based on the two independently developed controllers, a rule-based integration scheme is proposed to optimize the overall vehicle performance by minimizing interactions between the two subsystems and extending functionalities of individual subsystems. Computer simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed control system and the overall improvements in vehicle handling and stability.