Simulation and experiment of automatic steering control for lane keeping manoeuvre

This paper presents a 9-Degree of Freedom (9-DOF) vehicle model combined with a closed-loop driver model for the purpose of developing automatic steering control. The driver model was developed to control the steering angle and uses a lookup table path as a reference for the control input. The proposed driver model for the outer-loop controllers are combination of Proportional-Integral (PI) control with a yaw effect adaptive fuzzy logic control. A stepper motor model, rack and pinion model, and kinematic model of steering system are also introduced as an inner-loop subsystem for Stepper Motor Actuated Steering (SMAS) system. The outer-loop and inner-loop controllers were evaluated by simulation using predefined lane keeping path at 80 km/h constant speed. The Software-in-the-Loop Simulation (SILS) results were validated using an instrumented automatic steering test rig through the Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation (HILS). The SILS and HILS results show that the proposed automatic steering control is capable of reducing lateral path error and improving lateral path manoeuvre significantly.