Coordinated control design for steering and torque-vectoring in Model-Free Control structure*

Abstract

Model-Free Control (MFC) approach is a novel technique to handle nonlinearities and uncertainties in control systems in order to provide enhanced performance level. The design of MFC is based on an ultra-local model, which is an approximation of the dynamics of the controlled system for a short period of time. This structure also involves a model-based robust control, which guarantees the accurate tracking performance of the closed-loop system. In this paper, a novel technique is proposed for designing the robust control for taking into account the varying characteristics of the ultra-local model. A novel modeling method is presented, which combines the original plant of the controlled system and the ultra-local model. Then, a robust control design is proposed, by which the tracking performance and the robustness of the closed-loop system can be guaranteed. The design steps and effectiveness of the proposed control strategy is demonstrated through a vehicle-oriented control problem using the high-fidelity simulation software, CarMaker.