Fuzzy Control to Drive Car-Like Vehicles

International audienceThe reactive component of a motion control architecture (called EM) for a car-like vehicle intended to move in dynamic and partially known environments is presented in this paper. Its purpose is to generate commands for the servo-systems of the vehicle so as to follow a given nominal trajectory while reacting in real-time to unexpected events. EM is designed as a fuzzy controller. A behaviour-based approach is used to set up the fuzzy rule base: the overall behaviour of the vehicle results from the combination of several basic behaviours (trajectory following, obstacle avoidance, etc.). This approach permits an easy and incremental construction of the fuzzy rule base and also to develop and test the basic behaviours separately. EM has been implemented and tested on a real computer-controlled car equipped with sensors of limited precision and reliability. Experimental results obtained with the prototype vehicle are presented. They demonstrate the capability of EM to actually control a real vehicle and to perform trajectory following and obstacle avoidance in real outdoor environments by using simple fuzzy behaviours relying upon low-resolution sensor data

Autonomous Vehicle Coordination with Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks

A coordinated team of mobile wireless sensor and actuator nodes can bring numerous benefits for various applications in the field of cooperative surveillance, mapping unknown areas, disaster management, automated highway and space exploration. This article explores the idea of mobile nodes using vehicles on wheels, augmented with wireless, sensing, and control capabilities. One of the vehicles acts as a leader, being remotely driven by the user, the others represent the followers. Each vehicle has a low-power wireless sensor node attached, featuring a 3D accelerometer and a magnetic compass. Speed and orientation are computed in real time using inertial navigation techniques. The leader periodically transmits these measures to the followers, which implement a lightweight fuzzy logic controller for imitating the leader's movement pattern. We report in detail on all development phases, covering design, simulation, controller tuning, inertial sensor evaluation, calibration, scheduling, fixed-point computation, debugging, benchmarking, field experiments, and lessons learned

Urban and extra-urban hybrid vehicles: a technological review

Pollution derived from transportation systems is a worldwide, timelier issue than ever. The abatement actions of harmful substances in the air are on the agenda and they are necessary today to safeguard our welfare and that of the planet. Environmental pollution in large cities is approximately 20% due to the transportation system. In addition, private traffic contributes greatly to city pollution. Further, “vehicle operating life” is most often exceeded and vehicle emissions do not comply with European antipollution standards. It becomes mandatory to find a solution that respects the environment and, realize an appropriate transportation service to the customers. New technologies related to hybrid –electric engines are making great strides in reducing emissions, and the funds allocated by public authorities should be addressed. In addition, the use (implementation) of new technologies is also convenient from an economic point of view. In fact, by implementing the use of hybrid vehicles, fuel consumption can be reduced. The different hybrid configurations presented refer to such a series architecture, developed by the researchers and Research and Development groups. Regarding energy flows, different strategy logic or vehicle management units have been illustrated. Various configurations and vehicles were studied by simulating different driving cycles, both European approval and homologation and customer ones (typically municipal and university). The simulations have provided guidance on the optimal proposed configuration and information on the component to be used

A novel Big Data analytics and intelligent technique to predict driver's intent

Modern age offers a great potential for automatically predicting the driver's intent through the increasing miniaturization of computing technologies, rapid advancements in communication technologies and continuous connectivity of heterogeneous smart objects. Inside the cabin and engine of modern cars, dedicated computer systems need to possess the ability to exploit the wealth of information generated by heterogeneous data sources with different contextual and conceptual representations. Processing and utilizing this diverse and voluminous data, involves many challenges concerning the design of the computational technique used to perform this task. In this paper, we investigate the various data sources available in the car and the surrounding environment, which can be utilized as inputs in order to predict driver's intent and behavior. As part of investigating these potential data sources, we conducted experiments on e-calendars for a large number of employees, and have reviewed a number of available geo referencing systems. Through the results of a statistical analysis and by computing location recognition accuracy results, we explored in detail the potential utilization of calendar location data to detect the driver's intentions. In order to exploit the numerous diverse data inputs available in modern vehicles, we investigate the suitability of different Computational Intelligence (CI) techniques, and propose a novel fuzzy computational modelling methodology. Finally, we outline the impact of applying advanced CI and Big Data analytics techniques in modern vehicles on the driver and society in general, and discuss ethical and legal issues arising from the deployment of intelligent self-learning cars

An experimental laboratory bench setup to study electric vehicle antilock braking / traction systems and their control

This paper describes the preliminary research and implementation of an experimental test bench set up for an electric vehicle antilock braking system (ABS)/traction control system (TCS) representing the dry, wet and icy road surfaces. A fuzzy logic based controller to control the wheel slip for electric vehicle antilock braking system is presented. The test facility comprised of an induction machine load operating in the generating region. The test facility was used to simulate a variety of tire/road μ-σ driving conditions, eliminating the initial requirement for skid-pan trials when developing algorithms. Simulation studies and results are provided

Application of Fuzzy control algorithms for electric vehicle antilock braking/traction control systems

Abstract—The application of fuzzy-based control strategies has recently gained enormous recognition as an approach for the rapid development of effective controllers for nonlinear time-variant systems. This paper describes the preliminary research and implementation of a fuzzy logic based controller to control the wheel slip for electric vehicle antilock braking systems (ABSs). As the dynamics of the braking systems are highly nonlinear and time variant, fuzzy control offers potential as an important tool for development of robust traction control. Simulation studies are employed to derive an initial rule base that is then tested on an experimental test facility representing the dynamics of a braking system. The test facility is composed of an induction machine load operating in the generating region. It is shown that the torque-slip characteristics of an induction motor provides a convenient platform for simulating a variety of tire/road - driving conditions, negating the initial requirement for skid-pan trials when developing algorithms. The fuzzy membership functions were subsequently refined by analysis of the data acquired from the test facility while simulating operation at a high coefficient of friction. The robustness of the fuzzy-logic slip regulator is further tested by applying the resulting controller over a wide range of operating conditions. The results indicate that ABS/traction control may substantially improve longitudinal performance and offer significant potential for optimal control of driven wheels, especially under icy conditions where classical ABS/traction control schemes are constrained to operate very conservatively