Rear-heavy car control by adaptive linear optimal preview

Abstract

Adaptive linear optimal preview control theory is applied to a simple but non-linear car model, with parameters chosen to make the rear axle saturate first in any quasi-steady manoeuvre. The tendency of such a car to spin above a critical speed, which is a function of its running state, causes control to be especially difficult when operating near to the limit of the rear-axle force system. As in previous work, trim states and optimal gains are computed off-line for a given speed and a full range of lateral accelerations. Gain-scheduling with interpolation over trims and gain sets is used to keep the control appropriate to the running conditions, as they change. Simulations of manoeuvres are used to test and demonstrate the system capability. It is shown that utilising the rear-axle lateral-slip ratio as the scheduling variable, in the case of this rear-heavy car, gives excellent tracking, even when the tyres are run close to full saturation. It is implied by this and previous work that the general case can be treated effectively by monitoring both front- and rear-axle slips and scheduling on a worst-case basis.