Multiobjective control of a vehicle with triple trailers

We consider the backing-up control of a vehicle with triple trailers using a model-based fuzzy-control methodology. First, the vehicle model is represented by a Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model. Then, we employ the so-called "parallel distributed compensation" design to arrive at a controller that guarantees the stability of the closed-loop system consisted of the fuzzy model and controller. The control-design problem is cast in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). In addition to stability, the control performance considerations such as decay rate, constraints on input and output, and disturbance rejection are incorporated in the LMI conditions. In application to the vehicle with triple trailers setup, we utilize these LMI conditions to explicitly avoid the saturation of the steering angle and the jackknife phenomenon in the control design. Both simulation and experimental results are presented. Our results demonstrate that the fuzzy controller effectively achieves the backing-up control of the vehicle with triple trailers while avoiding the saturation of the actuator and "jackknife" phenomenon.