This monograph focuses on control methods that influence vehicle dynamics to assist the driver in enhancing passenger comfort, road holding, efficiency and safety of transport, etc., while maintaining the driver’s ability to override that assistance. On individual-vehicle-component level the control problem is formulated and solved by a unified modelling and design method provided by the linear parameter varying (LPV) framework. The global behaviour desired is achieved by a judicious interplay between the individual components, guaranteed by an integrated control mechanism. The integrated control problem is also formalized and solved in the LPV framework. Most important among the ideas expounded in the book are: application of the LPV paradigm in the modelling and control design methodology; application of the robust LPV design as a unified framework for setting control tasks related to active driver assistance; formulation and solution proposals for the integrated vehicle control problem; proposal for a reconfigurable and fault-tolerant control architecture; formulation and solution proposals for the plug-and-play concept; detailed case studies. Robust Control Design for Active Vehicle Assistance Systems will be of interest to academic researchers and graduate students interested in automotive control and to control and mechanical engineers working in the automotive industry. Advances in Industrial Control aims to report and encourage the transfer of technology in control engineering. The rapid development of control technology has an impact on all areas of the control discipline. The series offers an opportunity for researchers to present an extended exposition of new work in all aspects of industrial control.

This book provides a thorough and fresh treatment of the control of innovative variable-geometry vehicle suspension systems. A deep survey on the topic, which covers the varying types of existing variable-geometry suspension solutions, introduces the study. The book discusses three important aspects of the subject: • robust control design; • nonlinear system analysis; and • integration of learning and control methods. The importance of variable-geometry suspensions and the effectiveness of design methods implemented in the autonomous functionalities of electric vehicles—functionalities like independent steering and torque vectoring—are illustrated. The authors detail the theoretical background of modeling, control design, and analysis for each functionality. The theoretical results achieved through simulation examples and hardware-in-the-loop scenarios are confirmed. The book highlights emerging ideas of applying machine-learning-based methods in the control system with guarantees on safety performance. The authors propose novel control methods, based on the theory of robust linear parameter-varying systems, with examples for various suspension systems. Academic researchers interested in automotive systems and their counterparts involved in industrial research and development will find much to interest them in the eleven chapters of Control of Variable-Geometry Vehicle Suspensions.

This book focuses on the design of a multi-criteria automated vehicle longitudinal control system as an enhancement of the adaptive cruise control system. It analyses the effects of various parameters on the average traffic speed and the traction force of the vehicles in mixed traffic from a macroscopic point of view, and also demonstrates why research and development in speed control and predictive cruise control is important. The book also summarises the main steps of the system’s robust control design, from the modelling to its synthesis, and discusses both the theoretical background and the practical computation method of the control invariant sets. The book presents the analysis and verification of the system both in a simulation environment and under real-world conditions. By including the systematic design of the predictive cruise control using road and traffic information, it shows how optimization criteria can lead to multiobjective solutions, and the advanced optimization and control design methods required. The book focuses on a particular method by which the unfavourable effect of the traffic flow consideration can be reduced. It also includes simulation examples in which the speed design is performed, while the analysis is carried out in simulation and visualization environments. This book is a valuable reference for researchers and control engineers working on traffic control, vehicle control and control theory. It is also of interest to students and academics as it provides an overview of the strong interaction between the traffic flow and an individual vehicle cruising from both a microscopic and a macroscopic point of view.

This book assembles new methods showing the automotive engineer for the first time how hybrid vehicle configurations can be modeled as systems with discrete and continuous controls. These hybrid systems describe naturally and compactly the networks of embedded systems which use elements such as integrators, hysteresis, state-machines and logical rules to describe the evolution of continuous and discrete dynamics and arise inevitably when modeling hybrid electric vehicles. They can throw light on systems which may otherwise be too complex or recondite. Hybrid Systems, Optimal Control and Hybrid Vehicles shows the reader how to formulate and solve control problems which satisfy multiple objectives which may be arbitrary and complex with contradictory influences on fuel consumption, emissions and drivability. The text introduces industrial engineers, postgraduates and researchers to the theory of hybrid optimal control problems. A series of novel algorithmic developments provides tools for solving engineering problems of growing complexity in the field of hybrid vehicles. Important topics of real relevance rarely found in text books and research publications—switching costs, sensitivity of discrete decisions and there impact on fuel savings, etc.—are discussed and supported with practical applications. These demonstrate the contribution of optimal hybrid control in predictive energy management, advanced powertrain calibration, and the optimization of vehicle configuration with respect to fuel economy, lowest emissions and smoothest drivability. Numerical issues such as computing resources, simplifications and stability are treated to enable readers to assess such complex systems. To help industrial engineers and managers with project decision-making, solutions for many important problems in hybrid vehicle control are provided in terms of requirements, benefits and risks.

Comprehensive and accessible guide to the three main approaches to robust control design and its applications Optimal control is a mathematical field that is concerned with control policies that can be deduced using optimization algorithms. The optimal control approach to robust control design differs from conventional direct approaches to robust control that are more commonly discussed by firstly translating the robust control problem into its optimal control counterpart, and then solving the optimal control problem. Robust Control Design: An Optimal Control Approach offers a complete presentation of this approach to robust control design, presenting modern control theory in an concise manner. The other two major approaches to robust control design, the H_infinite approach and the Kharitonov approach, are also covered and described in the simplest terms possible, in order to provide a complete overview of the area. It includes up-to-date research, and offers both theoretical and practical applications that include flexible structures, robotics, and automotive and aircraft control. Robust Control Design: An Optimal Control Approach will be of interest to those needing an introductory textbook on robust control theory, design and applications as well as graduate and postgraduate students involved in systems and control research. Practitioners will also find the applications presented useful when solving practical problems in the engineering field.

Many plants have large variations in operating conditions. To ensure smooth running it is essential to find a simple fixed gain controller that guarantees rapidly decaying and well-damped transients for all admissible operating conditions. Robust Control presents design tools, developed by the authors, for the solution of this design problem. Examples of simple and complex cases such as a crane, a flight control problem and the automatic and active four-wheel steering of a car illustrate the use of these tools. This book is intended for anyone who has taken an undergraduate course in feedback control systems and who seeks an advanced treatment of robust control with applications. Drawing on the resources and authoritative research of a leading aerospace institute, it will mainly be of interest to mechanical and electrical engineers in universities, institutes and industrial research centres.

Analysis and Design of Control Laws for Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) teaches students how to solve classical problems in automotive control in a step-by-step fashion. It begins by motivating the use of ADAS and then explains different ADAS models and the goals of their control systems. Systems analysis and control architectures are presented, followed by a treatment of the use of optimal control and the Kalman filter. The author then presents more advanced control techniques and gives an overview of control problems involved in fully autonomous, hybrid and electric vehicles. Each chapter contains a specific discussion of its subject in terms of various ADAS functionalities, such as active suspension, power steering, lane control and automated parking. The text is developed by extensive use of worked examples, related to the applications discussed. Appendices, including necessary aspects of linear algebra and the use of MATLAB render the text self-contained. MATLAB files are provided to help both student and instructor model and analyse the systems being discussed. An electronic solutions manual is freely available for download by instructors adopting the book for their classroom teaching. This textbook will help final-year undergraduate and graduate students to understand the practical issues they will face when working on automotive systems in the real world and the theoretical underpinnings they will need to get to grips with the control systems of present and future generations of cars and other automotive transport. A basic grounding in mathematics and physics is all that is required to get the most from this text.