Impact Angle Control Guidance to Intercept Moving Targets by Virtual Target Technique

To solve the problem regarding the impact angle of the missile, this paper proposes a novel guidance law, which can control the missile to hit the target at the desired angle. The key of the guidance law is selecting a moving point on the collision line as the virtual target, and the tactical requirements can be fulfilled by the missile directly pursuing the virtual target. The Lyapunov stable theory is used to prove the convergence of the proposed guidance law. The guidance command is generated by a PID controller to make the missile towards the virtual target. The proposed guidance law makes the lateral acceleration of the missile converge to zero, which leads the angle of attack to zero, and it theoretically guarantees the flight path angle equals the attitude angle. Numerical simulations demonstrate this impact angle control guidance law is very accurate and robust. Regardless of whether the initial heading error is large or small, the missile which employs the proposed guidance law can always hit the target from the preset direction and the guidance process is smooth.

Assessment of Active Wheelset Steering System Using Computer Simulations and Roller Rig Tests

The paper is created within a project which aims to design a system of active wheelset steering for an electric four-axle locomotive. The wheelset steering system enables reduction in forces acting in the wheel-rail contacts in a curved track and consequently a reduction in wear and maintenance costs of both vehicles and rails is achieved. The project consists of three main parts: computer simulations, scaled roller rig experiments, and field tests. The paper is focused on the fundamental aspects of the first and the second part on the project. Track curvature estimation based on the rotation of the bogies towards the car body is proposed and assessed by computer simulations across varying track radiuses, vehicle speeds, and friction conditions. The scaled roller rig has been innovated in order to simulate bogie run in a curved track with uncompensated value of lateral acceleration and instrumented with a system of measurement of lateral wheel-rail forces. The experimental bogie has been equipped with systems of active wheelset steering and measurement of axle-box forces. The experiment setup, newly developed and applied systems of forces measurement and wireless signal transmission, and results of the first experiments are described in detail. Performed computer simulations and scaled roller rig experiments show that active wheelset steering is effective and practically implementable method of reducing guiding forces acting between railway vehicle wheels and rails in a curved track.

Comparative Analysis of MacAdam Model and PI Control in a Predictive Driver Model

Autonomous vehicles are the future of automotive engineering and understanding how this systems work is critical. In these vehicles, controller models are usually needed to generate signals that would normally be imposed by the driver e.g., steering angles, acceleration inputs and braking commands. Intuitively, each control method utilized has its peculiarities and presents different behaviours. In such situation, this paper aims to develop an error comparison between a car displacement and its reference path due the use of two different predictive driver controllers: The proportional-integrative and the MacAdam model. For this purpose, a 14 degrees of freedom vehicle model is used with the aid of MATLAB Simulink, whereas simulations were made using the double-lane change manoeuvre, a commonly used manoeuvre to analyse the vehicle dynamics performance. At the end of this paper, lateral acceleration, displacement and steering wheel angle analysis led the conclusion that the vehicle behaviour is smoother with the use of the proportional-integrative control regardless of longitudinal velocity. Nevertheless, the trajectory error is smaller for MacAdam model than PI controller is and therefore it is easier to follow the reference path with this one, although in aggressive maneuverers it can cause more discomfort and increase the risk of rolling when compared to the PI controller in a vehicle with the same body stiffness.

Detailed analysis and characterization of Subjective Assessment Indicators of manual and automated parking maneuvers

This paper presents a detailed analysis and characterization of Subjective Assessment Indicators for evaluating manual as well as fully automatic parking maneuvers. Parking is a huge challenge for many drivers. With the introduction of autonomous driving, parking maneuver assistants are essential functional components. For the development of automatic parking assistants, a detailed characterization of a subjective evaluation is essential. The characterization analysis presented here is based on general Subjective Assessment Indicators, which cover the subjective overall performance of a parking maneuver on a customer-oriented level in as many facets as necessary. This paper shows meaningful characteristics of the individual Subjective Assessment Indicators validated in a driving study with 497 performed parking maneuvers. The study results reveal different degrees of intensity of the characterizations for the different driving maneuvers. Here, it is shown that the characterization of the Final Parking Position has different reference points for longitudinal and lateral parking maneuvers. Furthermore, it was shown that an additional characteristic “Driving-Off Behavior” is required for the evaluation of the Safety Feeling, but for Parking Comfort the “Lateral Acceleration” and for Dynamic Performance the “Distance Traveled” can be neglected. The characteristics described in this paper can be used for all parking maneuvers and vehicle types. It forms the basis for a complete evaluation and enables OEMs to apply their individual requirements in the development of parking assistants.

Study on Side Collision of Battery Boxes Based on HyperWorks

To effectively improve the safety of battery boxes in side collision of electric vehicles, two measures are proposed: Firstly spread the boss evenly around the battery box. Secondly the upper and lower parts of the battery box are matched with the convex heads and groove structure. The finite element models of the battery boxes before and after the optimization, the vehicle and the movable barrier are established in this paper. According to the collision regulations, the side collision simulation of the vehicle body is carried out. The changes of the stress, deformation and lateral acceleration of the battery boxes are analyzed. The effectiveness of the measures is verified. The extrusion models of the battery boxes are established. The deformation and the changes of the internal energy of the battery boxes are analyzed. The effectiveness of the measures is verified again.

Study on the Comfort of Pedestrians on Landscape Footpath Paved on the Suspension Monorail System

This is the first time that the landscape footpath is realized on the suspension monorail system. To study the comfort of pedestrians on the landscape footpath when the vehicle passes, the dynamic responses of the track beam and the landscape footpath at different speeds were analyzed using the established vehicle-bridge dynamic analysis model. To evaluate the comfort of pedestrians on the landscape footpath, two indexes, Root Mean Square (RMS) value of acceleration (ISO 10137) and peak value of acceleration (EN 03), were adopted. Results show that the displacement and acceleration responses of landscape footpath and track beam are obviously different. Vertical displacement of the track beam is much larger than that of the landscape footpath due to the eccentric load of vehicles. Due to the displacement and rotation of the structural components which support the landscape footpath, the lateral response transferred to the landscape footpath would be slightly weakened. Maximum RMS values of the lateral and vertical acceleration of landscape footpath are 0.162 m/s2 and 0.169 m/s2, respectively, which meet the requirements of ISO 10137. Peak lateral acceleration is 0.546 m/s2, which reaches CL3 standard, and the peak vertical acceleration is 0.548 m/s2, which reaches CL2 standard. Lateral comfort is slightly worse than vertical comfort.

Integrated Chassis Control and Control Allocation for All Wheel Drive Electric Cars with Rear Wheel Steering

This study investigates a control strategy for torque vectoring (TV) and active rear wheel steering (RWS) using feedforward and feedback control schemes for different circumstances. A comprehensive vehicle and combined slip tire model are used to determine the secondary effect and to generate desired yaw acceleration and side slip angle rate. A model-based feedforward controller is designed to improve handling but not to track an ideal response. A feedback controller based on close loop observation is used to ensure its cornering stability. The fusion of two controllers is used to stabilize a vehicle’s lateral motion. To increase lateral performance, an optimization-based control allocation distributes the wheel torques according to the remaining tire force potential. The simulation results show that a vehicle with the proposed controller exhibits more responsive lateral dynamic behavior and greater maximum lateral acceleration. The cornering safety is also demonstrated using a standard stability test. The driving performance and stability are improved simultaneously by the proposed control strategy and the optimal control allocation scheme.

Vehicle rollover warning system based on TTR method with Inertial Measurement

This paper presents a theoretical and experimental study conducted on the rollover warning of wheeled off-road operating vehicles. The time to rollover (TTR) warning algorithm was studied with real-time vehicle roll angle and roll angle velocity as the input variables, and lateral load transfer ratio (LTR) was used as the rollover determination index. Subsequently, a vehicle dynamics model was built using CarSim software, and a warning algorithm was established in the MATLAB/Simulink environment. The rollover joint simulation in CarSim and MATLAB/Simulink was conducted under typical working conditions. Finally, combined with inertial measurements, a rollover warning system was independently developed. In addition, the rollover warning system was installed on a light forest firefighting truck to verify the feasibility of the system via a real vehicle experiment, and the law of vehicle rollover motion was also studied. The serpentine experiment and steady-state rotation experiment were conducted. The experimental results showed that at identical front-wheel steering angles, the roll angle and lateral acceleration increased with an increase in the vehicle speed. Furthermore, for identical vehicle speeds, the roll angle and lateral acceleration of the vehicle increased with an increase in the front-wheel steering angle. The dangerous vehicle speed was 50 km/h in the serpentine condition and 40 km/h in the steady-state rotation condition. The risk trend and alarm signal obtained by the rollover warning system were consistent with the actual situation. Thus, this can assist drivers in judging the rollover risk and effectively improve the active safety of special vehicles. Furthermore, it also provides a reference for further research on active rollover control technology of special vehicles.