STATE-OF-THE-ART AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS IN INTEGRATED CHASSIS CONTROL FOR GROUND VEHICLES

Many modern ground vehicles feature state-of-the-art powertrain, braking and suspension control systems. These technologies are rapidly filtering through to heavy and off-road vehicles. The drawback of many of these systems is that their operation is largely considered only in stand-alone mode. The paper introduces up-to-date and coming ground vehicle technology related to the integration and advanced control of active chassis control systems. In particular, addressing the task of coordinated subsystems control can provide simultaneous enhancements in traction and braking performance, handling, off-road mobility, driving comfort and energy efficiency. A special focus in the paper is given to coordinated operation of brake control, active suspension, and dynamic tyre pressure management. The influence of each particular subsystem on the vehicle safety, off-road mobility and ride comfort is evaluated in simulation. It is further described and confirmed in simulation how the integrated chassis control (ICC) can simultaneously improve each of these vehicle characteristics. From the hardware viewpoint, a variant of ground vehicle architecture with aforementioned integrated active chassis systems is introduced. This architecture and its corresponding implementation on a sport utility vehicle are currently investigated within the European Union-funded Horizon 2020 consortium EVE. The work presented is a collaborative effort among several ISTVS members across the globe.