Design and hardware-in-loop implementation of collision avoidance algorithms for heavy commercial road vehicles

ABSTRACT

An important aspect from the perspective of operational safety of heavy road vehicles is the detection and avoidance of collisions, particularly at high speeds. The development of a collision avoidance system is the overall focus of the research presented in this paper. The collision avoidance algorithm was developed using a sliding mode controller (SMC) and compared to one developed using linear full state feedback in terms of performance and controller effort. Important dynamic characteristics such as load transfer during braking, tyre-road interaction, dynamic brake force distribution and pneumatic brake system response were considered. The effect of aerodynamic drag on the controller performance was also studied. The developed control algorithms have been implemented on a Hardware-in-Loop experimental set-up equipped with the vehicle dynamic simulation software, IPG/TruckMaker®. The evaluation has been performed for realistic traffic scenarios with different loading and road conditions. The Hardware-in-Loop experimental results showed that the SMC and full state feedback controller were able to prevent the collision. However, when the discrepancies in the form of parametric variations were included, the SMC provided better results in terms of reduced stopping distance and lower controller effort compared to the full state feedback controller.

KEYWORDS:

• Collision avoidance
• rear end collision
• pneumatic brake system
• vehicle dynamics
• activesafety

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID details

V. Rajaram  http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5906-0022

Shankar C. Subramanian  http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6710-2202

Additional information

Funding

The authors acknowledge the funding provided by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India, through the grant EDD/14-15/023/MOLE/NILE. They also acknowledge the Indian Institute of Technology Madras for funding this research through the grant EDD/14-15/832/RFER/CSSH.