Abstract
Keywords - Global Chassis Control, Function Network, Integrated Control, Coordination, Control Allocation
Global Chassis Control (GCC) targets in the case of a given configuration of electronically controlled active systems in chassis and powertrain under respective given driving conditions at the global optimization of active safety, driving comfort and driving pleasure. Actual questions and challenges are the following, see e.g. [1],
- description of those regions in which the characteristics of a vehicle should be defined by control systems,
- composition of the best possible portfolio of active systems for a certain vehicle,
- development of generic integration and coordination methods and the appropriate tools,
- mapping the control functions onto a certain electronic architecture accentuating the need to reduce complexity.
From the viewpoint of a system supplier these questions will be adressed and the main challenges of control system integration discussed. The global automotive market trends will also be considered.
The integration of active systems leads to significant improvement in the area of active safety. Todays control systems can reduce dangerous drifts and other lateral instabilities almost completely. The benefits of a range of products including brake, steering, powertrain and suspension systems at the front and rear axle will be demonstrated.
The variety of combinations of active chassis systems requests for a generic coordination approach to exploit the full potential and at the same time to reduce the application effort as much as possible. The results of a feasibility study of optimization based coordination of Active Front Steering AFS, Active Rear Axle Kinematics ARK und Active Roll Stabilizer ARS will be presented in the paper.