Predictive Suspension Algorithm for Land Vehicles over Deterministic Topography

Abstract

A good suspension system is mandatory for ensuring stability, comfort and safety in land vehicles; therefore, advanced semi and fully active suspension systems have been developed along with their associated management strategies to overcome the limitations of passive suspensions. This paper presents a suspension algorithm for land vehicles traveling through a deterministic topography. The kinematics of a half-vehicle model and the algorithm are implemented in Simulink. The algorithm’s inputs are the measurements provided by a position scanner located on the front wheel of the vehicle. Based on this input, the algorithm reconstructs the topography in real-time and sends the corresponding command to an actuator located on the rear wheel to compensate for the irregularities of the terrain. The actuation is governed by the parameter “D”, which represents the distance over which the algorithm averages the height of the terrain. Two ground profiles were tested and sensitivity analysis of the parameter “D” was performed. Results show that larger values of “D” usually yield less vibration on the actuated mass, but this value also depends on the irregularities of the terrain.