Vehicle Yaw Control via Second-Order Sliding-Mode Technique

The problem of vehicle yaw control is addressed in this paper using an active differential and yaw rate feedback. A reference generator, designed to improve vehicle handling, provides the desired yaw rate value to be achieved by the closed loop controller. The latter is designed using the second-order sliding mode (SOSM) methodology to guarantee robust stability in front of disturbances and model uncertainties, which are typical of the automotive context. A feedforward control contribution is also employed to enhance the transient system response. The control derivative is constructed as a discontinuous signal, attaining an SOSM on a suitably selected sliding manifold. Thus, the actual control input results in being continuous, as it is needed in the considered context. Simulations performed using a realistic nonlinear model of the considered vehicle show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.