Lateral maneuvering of ground vehicles: modeling and control

Researches challenging problems in nonlinear analysis and lateral maneuvering control of ground vehicles. Newton's second law is used to find the differential equations to model the lateral vehicle dynamics in the two-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system. To guarantee safety and comfort, to achieve the desired handling qualities, and to attain the specifications imposed on driveability and maneuverability, controllability and agility, control algorithms are needed to be designed and tested. Nonlinear proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controllers are synthesized in the paper. The feedback gain coefficients are found using the Lyapunov stability theory. Compared with conventional linear PID algorithms, it is illustrated that superior dynamic performance and driveability, excellent controllability and maneuverability, as well as robustness and stability, were achieved by using nonlinear control laws. The paper develops a new concept to solve the motion control problem using nonlinear feedback error maps. It is shown that controllers with nonlinear error and state feedback guarantee robust tracking and stability, as well as allow one to attain the desired performance specifications. Nonlinear modeling and simulations support the developments.