Real-time implementation of yaw rate and sideslip control through individual wheel torques

Improving vehicle passenger safety is of major importance in modern automotive industry. Within this framework, vehicle stability controllers play a key role, as they actively contribute to maintain vehicle driveability even in potentially dangerous situations. An example of such a controller is Electronic Stability Control (ESC), that brakes individual wheels to generate a direct yaw moment to stabilize the vehicle (e.g. from excessive understeer or oversteer). This paper presents the real-time implementation of a stability controller based on measured (and/or estimated) yaw rate and sideslip angle and on phase-plane related stability criteria. The control strategy is first developed in MATLAB-Simulink environment with a simplified vehicle model. Then, the controller is assessed via software-in-the-loop using a full vehicle model developed in Simcenter Amesim, before implementing it on a real-time platform. Results are promising, endorsing the implementation of hardware-in-the-loop using an Electronic Control Unit.