Artificial Steering Feel in Steer by Wire systems: A Simulation Based Evaluation of Control Strategies

In the automotive industry, steering control technology has significantly advanced over time. One of the most cutting-edge innovations is the steer by wire system, which completely disconnects the traditional link between the steering wheel and the vehicle wheel. However, incorporating steer by wire technology poses critical obstacles such as to turn vehicle wheel proportional to the rotation of steering wheel and to ensure a responsive and intuitive steering feel to the hands of the driver. This paper focuses on addressing these challenges by introducing artificial steering feedback. Proportional integral derivative controller, linear quadratic regulator, model predictive controller and sliding mode controller are implemented in steer by wire based electric vehicle to optimize the effectiveness of the steering wheel angle controller loop and road wheel angle controller loop. The performance analysis of steer by wire based on aforementioned controllers are carried out within the MATLAB/Simulink environment.