Traction Control Allocation Employing Vehicle Motion Feedback Controller for Four-Wheel-Independent-Drive Vehicle

A novel vehicle traction algorithm solving the traction force allocation problem based on vehicle center point motion feedback controller is proposed in this paper. The center point motion feedback control system proposed utilizes individual wheel torque actuation assuming all wheels are individually driven. The approach presented is an alternative to the various direct optimization-based traction force/torque allocation schemes. The proposed system has many benefits, such as significant reduction of the algorithm complexity by merging most traction system functionalities into one. Such a system enables significant simplification, unification, and standardization of powertrain control design. Moreover, many signals needed by conventional traction force allocation methods are not required to be measured or estimated with the proposed approach, which are among others vehicle mass, wheel loading (normal force), and vehicle center of gravity location. Vehicle center point trajectory setpoints and measurements are transformed to each wheel, where the tracking is ensured using the wheel torque actuation. The proposed control architecture performance and analysis are shown using the nonlinear twin-track vehicle model implemented in Matlab$\&$Simulink environment. The performance is then validated using high fidelity FEE CTU in Prague EFORCE formula model implemented in IPG CarMaker environment with selected test scenarios. Finally, the results of the proposed control allocation are compared to the state-of-the-art approach.