Design and Implementation of a MPC-based Rear-Wheel Steering Controller for Sports Cars

Active rear-wheel steering is an effective technology to improve the cornering performance of vehicles, enhancing both handling and stability. In this study, a MPC-based rear-wheel steering controller for sport driving conditions is proposed. High performance is achieved by an accurate choice of the linear time-varying (LTV) predictive model. All the fundamental aspects of lateral dynamics, such as tire force saturation, tire relaxation, aerodynamic downforce and load transfer are taken into account. Simulation results on a multi-body vehicle simulator and the details of the real-time implementation complete the paper.