Design and evaluation of side slip angle-based vehicle stability control scheme on a virtual test track

This paper describes the development of side slip angle-based vehicle stability control (VSC) schemes and the evaluation of the control schemes on a virtual test track. A differential braking control law based on vehicle planar motion has been designed using a three-degree-of-freedom yaw plane vehicle model. The control threshold for the VSC is designed based on the vehicle body side slip angle. Since VSC always works with the driver, the overall vehicle performance will depend not on how well the VSC works but rather on its interaction with the human driver. Vehicle behavior and interactions between the vehicle, the controller, and the human driver are investigated using a vehicle simulator on a virtual test track (VTT). The VTT consists of a real-time vehicle simulator, a visual animation engine, a visual display, and human-vehicle interfaces. The VTT has been developed and used for the evaluation of the VSC under various realistic conditions in the laboratory. In this paper, the effects of the different control threshold on the vehicle-driver-controller interaction for a novice and expert driver are compared. Test results obtained using the VTT establish the need for a variable control threshold. The VTT makes it possible to perform exhaustive design trials and evaluations in the laboratory without risk of injury before field testing and promises to significantly reduce development cost and cycle time.