A Review of Model Predictive Controls Applied to Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems

Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADASs) are currently gaining particular attention in the automotive field, as enablers for vehicle energy consumption, safety, and comfort enhancement. Compelling evidence is in fact provided by the variety of related studies that are to be found in the literature. Moreover, considering the actual technology readiness, larger opportunities might stem from the combination of ADASs and vehicle connectivity. Nevertheless, the definition of a suitable control system is not often trivial, especially when dealing with multiple-objective problems and dynamics complexity. In this scenario, even though diverse strategies are possible (e.g., Equivalent Consumption Minimization Strategy, Rule-based strategy, etc.), the Model Predictive Control (MPC) turned out to be among the most effective ones in fulfilling the aforementioned tasks. Hence, the proposed study is meant to produce a comprehensive review of MPCs applied to scenarios where ADASs are exploited and aims at providing the guidelines to select the appropriate strategy. More precisely, particular attention is paid to the prediction phase, the objective function formulation and the constraints. Subsequently, the interest is shifted to the combination of ADASs and vehicle connectivity to assess for how such information is handled by the MPC. The main results from the literature are presented and discussed, along with the integration of MPC in the optimal management of higher level connection and automation. Current gaps and challenges are addressed to, so as to possibly provide hints on future developments

Automatic Code Generation of Real-Time Nonlinear Model Predictive Control for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Intelligent Cruise Controllers

Control systems have always been a vital part of the novel technological advancements of human being in any industry, especially transportation. With the introduction of the idea of autonomous driving, classical control systems are not effective anymore and the need for intelligent control systems is inevitable. Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADASs), which are systems proposed to help drivers improve the process of driving, and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), which are proposed to provide information that promotes more coordinated and more ecological driving, require novel intelligent controllers that are adaptive to driving conditions. Therefore, the development of different strategic vehicle control systems by employing state-of-the-art intelligent control methods has been an active field of research in recent years. The highly variant nature of transportation implies that an effective intelligent control technique must be able to handle a large multi-input multi-output (MIMO) system with nonlinear complex dynamics. It must also store and analyse a large amount of data and information about the vehicle, its environment and traffic conditions in the process of decision-making. Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC), as a unique optimal model-based approach to intelligent control systems design, is a promising candidate that comprises all of these characteristics. The ability to solve constrained multi-objective optimization problems with a predictive approach has made this technique powerful. However, NMPC controller developers face real-time implementation challenges as this method suffers from huge computational loads. Hence, fast Real-Time Optimization (RTO) methods are proposed to overcome this drawback. Optimization methods based on Generalized Minimum Residual (GMRES) method are examples of these RTO algorithms that have shown great potential for real-time applications such as vehicle control. This thesis investigates the potential of employing GMRES-based RTO algorithms to design intelligent vehicle control systems, in particular intelligent cruise controllers. Plug-in Hybrid Electric vehicles (PHEVs) are introducing themselves as the future solutions for green and ecological transportation, the thesis also introduces an intelligent cruise controller for the Toyota Prius 2013 PHEV. To this end, an automatic multi-solver NMPC code generator based on GMRES-based RTO algorithms is developed in MATLAB. The user-friendly environment of this code generation tool allows the user to easily generate NMPC controller codes for further model-in-the-loop (MIL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulations. Simulations are performed for two different driving scenarios: driving on hilly roads and a car-following scenario. In the case of driving on hilly roads, a comparative study is conducted between different real-time optimizers and it is concluded that the Newton/GMRES algorithm is faster than the Continuation/GMRES algorithm. A novel adaptive prediction horizon length approach is also developed to enhance the performance of the NMPC controller. Simulation results demonstrate a minimum of 3.4% energy consumption improvement as compared to a PID controller performance as well as improvement of reference speed tracking when using an adaptive prediction horizon length. In case of the car-following scenario, the effect of several tuning parameters and adaptive gains on the performance of the proposed NMPC controller is studied. Then the ecological adaptive cruise controller was tested on urban and highway driving cycles, and resulted in 3.4% and 1.2%, respectively, improvement in the cost of the trip. Finally, the proposed NMPC controllers for both intelligent cruise control systems are tested on an HIL platform for rapid control prototyping. The HIL results on a dSPACE prototype Electronic Control Unit (ECU) indicate that the real-time optimizers and the proposed NMPC controllers are fast enough to be implementable on an actual ECU for a certain range of prediction horizon sizes

New Energy Management Systems for Battery Electric Vehicles with Supercapacitor

Recently, the Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) has been considered to be a proper candidate to terminate the problems associated with fuel-based vehicles. Therefore, the development and enhancement of the BEVs have lately formed an attractive field of study. One of the significant challenges to commercialize BEVs is to overcome the battery drawbacks that limit the BEV’s performance. One promising solution is to hybridize the BEV with a supercapacitor (SC) so that the battery is the primary source of energy meanwhile the SC handles sudden fluctuations in power demand. Obviously, to exploit the most benefits from this hybrid system, an intelligent Energy Management System (EMS) is required. In this thesis, different EMSs are developed: first, the Nonlinear Model Predictive Controller (NMPC) based on Newton Generalized Minimum Residual (Newton/GMRES) method. The NMPC effectively optimizes the power distribution between the battery and supercapacitor as a result of NMPC ability to handle multi-input, multi-output problems and utilize past information to predict future power demand. However, real-time application of the NMPC is challenging due to its huge computational cost. Therefore, Newton/GMRES, which is a fast real-time optimizer, is implemented in the heart of the NMPC. Simulation results demonstrate that the Newton/GMRES NMPC successfully protects the battery during high power peaks and nadirs. On the other hand, future power demand is inherently probabilistic. Consequently, Stochastic Dynamic Programming (SDP) is employed to maximize the battery lifespan while considering the uncertain nature of power demand. The next power demand is predicted by a Markov chain. The SDP approach determines the optimal policy using the policy iteration algorithm. Implementation of the SDP is quite free-to-launch since it does not require any additional equipment. Furthermore, the SDP is an offline approach, thus, computational cost is not an issue. Simulation results are considerable compared to those of other rival approaches. Recent success stories of applying bio-inspired techniques such as Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to control area have motivated the author to investigate the potential of this algorithm to solve the problem at hand. The PSO is a population-based method that effectively seeks the best answer in the solution space with no need to solve complex equations. Simulation results indicate that PSO is successful in terms of optimality, but it shows some difficulties for real-time application

Real-Time Optimal Control of a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Using Trip Information

The plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is a promising option for future sustainable transportation. It offers better fuel economy and lower emissions than conventional vehicles. This thesis has developed a novel energy-optimal powertrain controller for PHEVs. The controller will be broadly applicable to all PHEV models; however, it will be fine-tuned to the Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid for testing and validation. The controller will take advantage of advancements in vehicle intelligent and communications technologies, such as Global Positioning System (GPS), Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), Geographic Information System (GIS), radar, and other on-board sensors, to provide look-ahead trip data. These data are critical to increasing fuel economy as well as driving safety. This PhD research has developed three energy-optimal systems for PHEVs: Trip Planning module, Route-based Energy Management System (Route-based EMS), and Ecological Cruise (Eco-Cruise) Controller. The main objective of these energy-optimal systems is to minimize the total energy cost, including both electricity derived from the grid and fuel. The upper-level system is Trip Planning, using an algorithm designed to take advantage of previewed trip information to optimize State of Charge (SOC) profiles. The Route-based EMS optimally distributes propulsion power between the batteries and engine. Finally, the Eco-Cruise controller adjusts the speed considering upcoming trip data. Real-time implementation has remained a major challenge in the design of complex control systems. To address this hurdle, simple and efficient models and fast optimization algorithms are developed for each energy-optimal strategy. A Real-time Cluster-based Optimization is developed to solve the Trip Planning problem in real-time. The Route-based EMS is developed based on Equivalent Consumption Minimization Strategy (ECMS) to optimally distribute propulsion power between two energy sources. And, a Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) is utilized to obtain optimum traction or regenerative torques in Eco-Cruise controller. Model-in-the-Loop (MIL) and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing are critical steps in control validation and in ensuring real-time implementation capability. The MIL results show that the novel energy-optimal powertrain controller can improve the total energy cost by up to %20 compare to benchmark rule-based controller. The HIL test results demonstrate that the computational time for energy-optimal strategies are less than the target sampling-time, and they can be implemented in real-time

Real-time Autonomous Cruise Control of Connected Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles Under Uncertainty

Advances in embedded digital computing and communication networks have enabled the development of automated driving systems. Autonomous cruise control (ACC) and cooperative ACC (CACC) systems are two popular types of these technologies, which can be implemented to enhance safety, traffic flow, driving comfort and energy economy. This PhD thesis develops robust and adaptive controllers for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), with the Toyota Plug-in Prius as the baseline vehicle, in order to enable them to perform safe and robust car-following and platooning with improved vehicle performance. Three controllers are designed here to achieve three main goals. The first goal of this thesis is the development of a real-time Ecological ACC (Eco-ACC) system for PHEVs, that is robust to uncertainties. A novel adaptive tube-based nonlinear model predictive control (AT-NMPC) approach to the design of Eco-ACC systems is proposed. Through utilizing two separate models to define the constrained optimal control problem, this method takes into account uncertainties, modeling errors and delayed data in the design of the controller and guaranties robust constraint handling for the assumed uncertainty bounds. {In addition, it adapts to changes in order to improve the control performance when possible.} Furthermore, a Newton/GMRES fast solver is employed to implement the designed AT-NMPC in real-time. The second goal is the development of a real-time Ecological CACC (Eco-CACC) system that can simultaneously satisfy the frequency-domain and time-domain platooning criteria. A novel distributed reference governor (RG) approach to the constraint handling of vehicle platoons equipped with CACC is presented. RG sits behind the controlled string stable system and keeps the output inside the defined constraints. Furthermore, to improve the platoon's energy economy, a controller is presented for the leader's control using NMPC method, assuming it is a PHEV. The third objective of this thesis is the control of heterogeneous platoons using an adaptive control approach. A direct model reference adaptive controller (MRAC) is designed that enforces a string stable behavior on the vehicle platoon despite different dynamical models of the platoon members and the external disturbances acting on the systems. The proposed method estimates the controller coefficients on-line to adapt to the disturbances such as wind, changing road grade and also to different vehicle dynamic behaviors. The main purpose of all three controllers is to maintain the driving safety of connected vehicles in car-following and platooning while being real-time implementable. In addition, when there is a possibility for performance enhancement without sacrificing safety, ecological improvement is also considered. For each designed controller, Model-in-the-Loop (MIL) simulations and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) experiments are performed using high-fidelity vehicle models in order to validate controllers' performance and ensure their real-time implementation capability

Online Control of Automotive systems for improved Real-World Performance

[ES] La necesidad de mejorar el consumo de combustible y las emisiones de los sistemas propulsivos de automoción en condiciones reales de conducción es la base de esta tesis. Para ello, se exploran dos ejes: En primer lugar, el control de los sistemas de propulsión. El estado del arte de control en los sistemas propulsivos de automoción se basa en gran medida en el uso de técnicas de optimización que buscan las leyes de control que minimizan una función de coste en un conjunto de condiciones de operación denidas a priori. Estas leyes se almacenan en las ECUs de producción en forma de mapas de calibración de los diferentes actuadores del motor. Las incertidumbres asociadas al conjunto limitado de condiciones en el proceso de calibración dan lugar a un funcionamiento subóptimo del sistema de propulsión en condiciones de conducción real. Por lo tanto, en este trabajo se proponen métodos de control adaptativo que optimicen la gestión de la planta propulsiva a las condiciones esperadas de funcionamiento para un usuario y un caso determinado en lugar de a un conjunto genérico de condiciones. El segundo eje se reere a optimizar, en lugar de los parámetros de control del sistema propulsivo, la demanda de potencia de este, introduciendo al propio conductor en el bucle de control, sugiriéndole las acciones a tomar. En particular, este segundo eje se reere al control de la velocidad del vehículo (conocido popularmente como Eco-Driving en la literatura) en condiciones reales de conducción. Se proponen sistemas de aviso en tiempo real al conductor acerca de la velocidad óptima para minimizar el consumo del vehículo. Los métodos de control desarrollados para cada aplicación se describen en detalle en la tesis y se muestran ensayos experimentales de validación en los casos de estudio diseñados. Ambos ejes representan un problema de control óptimo, denido por un sistema dinámico, unas restricciones a cumplir y un coste a minimizar, en este sentido las herramientas desarrolladas en la tesis son comunes a los dos ejes: Un modelo de vehículo, una herramienta de predicción del ciclo de conducción y métodos de control óptimo (Programación Dinámica, Principio Mínimo de Pontryagin y Estrategia de Consumo Equivalente Mínimo). Dependiendo de la aplicación, los métodos desarrollados se implementaron en varios entornos experimentales: un motor térmico en sala de ensayos simulando el resto del vehículo, incluyendo el resto del sistema de propulsión híbrido y en un vehículo real. Los resultados muestran mejoras signicativas en el rendimiento del sistema de propulsión en términos de ahorro de combustible y emisiones en comparación con los métodos empleados en el estado del arte actual.[CA] La necessitat de millorar el consum de combustible i les emissions dels sistemes propulsius d'automoció en condicions reals de conducció és la base d'aquesta tesi. Per a això, s'exploren dos eixos: En primer lloc, el control dels sistemes de propulsió. L'estat de l'art de control en els sistemes propulsius d'automoció es basa en gran manera en l'ús de tècniques d'optimització que busquen les lleis de control que minimitzen una funció de cost en un conjunt de condicions d'operació denides a priori. Aquestes lleis s'emmagatzemen en les Ecus de producció en forma de mapes de calibratge dels diferents actuadors del motor. Les incerteses associades al conjunt limitat de condicions en el procés de calibratge donen lloc a un funcionament subòptim del sistema de propulsió en condicions de conducció real. Per tant, en aquest treball es proposen mètodes de control adaptatiu que optimitzen la gestió de la planta propulsiva a les condicions esperades de funcionament per a un usuari i un cas determinat en lloc d'un conjunt genèric de condicions. El segon eix es refereix a optimitzar, en lloc dels paràmetres de control del sistema propulsiu, la demanda de potència d'aquest, introduint al propi conductor en el bucle de control, suggerint-li les accions a prendre. En particular, aquest segon eix es refereix al control de la velocitat del vehicle (conegut popularment com Eco-*Driving en la literatura) en condicions reals de conducció. Es proposen sistemes d'avís en temps real al conductor sobre la velocitat òptima per a minimitzar el consum del vehicle. Els mètodes de control desenvolupats per a cada aplicació es descriuen detalladament en la tesi i es mostren assajos experimentals de validació en els casos d'estudi dissenyats. Tots dos eixos representen un problema de control òptim, denit per un sistema dinàmic, unes restriccions a complir i un cost a minimitzar, en aquest sentit les eines desenvolupades en la tesi són comunes als dos eixos: Un model de vehicle, una eina de predicció del cicle de conducció i mètodes de control òptim (Programació Dinàmica, Principi Mínim de *Pontryagin i Estratègia de Consum Equivalent Mínim). Depenent de l'aplicació, els mètodes desenvolupats es van implementar en diversos entorns experimentals: un motor tèrmic en sala d'assajos simulant la resta del vehicle, incloent la resta del sistema de propulsió híbrid i en un vehicle real. Els resultats mostren millores signicatives en el rendiment del sistema de propulsió en termes d'estalvi de combustible i emissions en comparació amb els mètodes emprats en l'estat de l'art actual.[EN] The need of improving the real-world fuel consumption and emission of automotive applications is the basis of this thesis. To this end, two verticals are explored: First is the online control of the powertrain systems. In state-of-the-art Optimal Control techniques (such as Dyanmic Programming, Pontryagins Minimum Principle, etc...) are extensively used to formulate the optimal control laws. These laws are stored in the production ECUs in the form of feedforward calibration maps. The unaccounted uncertainities related to the real-world during the powertrain calibration result in suboptimal operations of the powertrain in actual driving. Therefore, adaptive control methods are proposed in this work which, optimise the energy management of the conventional and the HEV powertrain control on real driving mission. The second vertical is regarding the vehicle speed control (popularly known as Eco-Driving in the literature) methods in real driving condition. In particular, speed advisory systems are proposed for real time application on a vehicle. The control methods developed for each application are described in details with their verication and validation on the designed case studies. Apart from the developed control methods, there are three tools that were developed and used at various stages of this thesis: A vehicle model, A driving cycle prediction tool and optimal control methods (dynamic programming, PMP and ECMS). Depending on the application, the developed methods were implemented on the Hardware-In-Loop Internal Combustion Engine testing setup or on a real vehicle. The results show signicant improvements in the performance of the powertrain in terms of fuel economy and emissions in comparison to the state-of-the-art methods.Pandey, V. (2021). Online Control of Automotive systems for improved Real-World Performance [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/173716TESI

Developments in Stochastic Fuel Efficient Cruise Control and Constrained Control with Applications to Aircraft.

This dissertation presents contributions to fuel-efficient control of vehicle speed and constrained control with applications to aircraft. In the first part of this dissertation a stochastic approach to fuel-efficient vehicle speed control is developed. This approach encompasses stochastic modeling of road grade and traffic speed and uses the application of stochastic dynamic programming to generate vehicle speed control policies that are optimized for the trade-off between fuel consumption and travel time. It is shown that the policies lead to the emergence of time-varying vehicle speed patterns, often referred to as pulse and glide (PnG). Through simulations and experiments it is confirmed that these time-varying vehicle speed profiles are more fuel-efficient than driving at a comparable constant speed. A practical implementation strategy of these patterns is then developed and demonstrated. Also, several additional contributions are made to approaches for stochastic modeling of road grade and vehicle speed that include the use of Kullback-Liebler divergence and divergence rate and a stochastic jump-like model for the behavior of the road grade. In the second part of the dissertation, contributions to constrained control with applications to aircraft are described. Recoverable sets and integral safe sets of initial states of constrained closed-loop systems are introduced first and computational procedures of such sets based on linear discrete-time models are given. An approach to constrained flight planning based on chaining recoverable sets or integral safe sets is described and illustrated with a simulation example. Finally, two control schemes that exploit integral safe sets are proposed. The first scheme, referred to as the controller state governor (CSG), resets the controller state (typically an integrator) to enforce the constraints and enlarge the set of plant states that can be recovered without constraint violation. The second scheme, referred to as the controller state and reference governor (CSRG), combines the controller state governor with the reference governor control architecture and provides the capability of simultaneously modifying the reference command and the controller state to enforce the constraints. Theoretical results that characterize the response properties of both schemes are presented. Examples are reported that illustrate the operation of these schemes.PhDAerospace EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111399/1/kevinmcd_1.pd

A Novel Learning Based Model Predictive Control Strategy for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle

The multi-source electromechanical coupling renders energy management of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) highly nonlinear and complex. Furthermore, the complicated nonlinear management process highly depends on knowledge of driving conditions, and hinders the control strategies efficiently applied instantaneously, leading to massive challenges in energy saving improvement of PHEVs. To address these issues, a novel learning based model predictive control (LMPC) strategy is developed for a serial-parallel PHEV with the reinforced optimal control effect in real time application. Rather than employing the velocity-prediction based MPC methods favored in the literature, an original reference-tracking based MPC solution is proposed with strong instant application capacity. To guarantee the optimal control effect, an online learning process is implemented in MPC via the Gaussian process (GP) model to address the uncertainties during state estimation. The tracking reference in LMPC based control problem in PHEV is achieved by a microscopic traffic flow analysis (MTFA) method. The simulation results validate that the proposed method can optimally manage energy flow within vehicle power sources in real time, highlighting its anticipated preferable performance