Combined AFS and DYC Control of Four-Wheel-Independent-Drive Electric Vehicles over CAN Network with Time-Varying Delays

This paper deals with the lateral motion control of four-wheel-independent-drive electric vehicles (4WID-EVs) subject to onboard network-induced time delays. It is well known that the in-vehicle network and x-by-wire technologies have considerable advantages over the traditional point-to-point communication. However, on the other hand, these technologies would also induce the probability of time-varying delays, which would degrade control performance or even deteriorate the system. To enjoy the advantages and deal with in-vehicle network delays, an H_∞-based delay-tolerant linear quadratic regulator (LQR) control method is proposed in this paper. The problem is described in the form of an augmented discrete-time model with uncertain elements determined by the delays. Delay uncertainties are expressed in the form of a polytope using Taylor series expansion. To achieve a good steady-state response, a generalized proportional-integral control approach is adopted. The feedback gains can be obtained by solving a sequence of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Cosimulations with Simulink and CarSim demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller. Comparison with a conventional LQR controller is also carried out to illustrate the strength of explicitly dealing with in-vehicle network delays.