Linear parameter varying controller for automated lane guidance: experimental study on tractor-trailers

Proposes a linear parameter-varying (LPV) controller design for automated lane keeping for vehicles. The lane keeping objective is to keep the vehicle centered with respect to the lane boundaries by applying appropriate steering action. Most current implementation of lane keeping controllers were based on linear synthesis techniques because linear techniques offer a direct tradeoff between steering action, passenger comfort, robustness, and tracking performance. However, linear methods assume constant longitudinal velocity of the vehicle for controller synthesis. It is known that the position response of the vehicle to the steering input varies significantly with the longitudinal velocity of the vehicle. The LPV design technique deals with this issue by synthesizing a velocity dependent controller. The controller minimizes the induced L₂ norm of the closed loop from the road curvature to the tracking error. The design has been successfully implemented on a tractor-trailer vehicle and experiments conducted up to longitudinal velocity of 60 mi/h are presented.