State of the art survey: active and semi-active
suspension control
KARTHIK
ED18S002
I. PROBLEM STATEMENT
The paper aims to review the design aspects of suspension
control systems, provide insights on the current hardware
implementation of active and semi-active suspension systems,
and review the performance of active, semi-active, and passive
suspensions with a focus on linear quadratic-based optimiza-
tion.
II. OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE
The objectives of this study are:
• To provide a comprehensive survey of the design of
control systems for suspensions.
• To compare the performance of active, semi-active and
passive suspensions with a theoretical optimal suspenions
system.
• To provide a perspective on various production and near
production suspension systems with respect to design and
hardware implementation.
The scope of the paper when discussing design and per-
formance aspects is limited to “ride quality and comfort”,
as it remains the key attribute as far as passenger vehicle
suspensions are considered, and road roughness characteristics
are neglected. Further, control analysis and comparison of
models are performed against a simple quarter car model.
III. METHODOLOGY
The paper discusses different performance indices that are
important for the design of a passenger vehicle. The au-
thors then utilize a 2-Degree of Freedom (DOF) Quarter Car
(QC) model to design an optimal suspension controller using
H2/Linear Quadratic (LQ) optimization, for comparison.
IV. SUMMARY
In section 1 (Introduction), the authors start off by enumer-
ating the different requirements that a suspension system must
satisfy. The classification of suspension systems into passive,
semi-active and active is briefed upon. Further, the scope of
the paper is clarified in this section. Chapter 2 deals with the
development of an optimal suspension control for a 2 DOF QC
model. It talks about the performance indices for ride comfort,
suspension displacement constraints, and road holding. Fur-
ther, the design of H2 optimal controller is explained, along
with an illustrative example. The authors perform comparison
of suspension techniques with respect to this optimal suspen-
sion control, with specific focus on the ride comfort metrics.
Section 3 talks about studies that mostly deal with performance
metrics associated with road roughness and load disturbances.
It discusses multiple studies that focus on the decoupled
effects that road roughness and load disturbances have on the
suspension performance. It presents various existing studies
on load disturbance containment that deal with LQ optimal
control, Pareto optimization, adaptive robust control, etc. The
authors consider LQ optimization for their QC model in
section 2. Section 4 focuses on other optimization approaches
such as Youla parameterization, LFT, Pole placement, H2/H-
Infinity, etc., that were applied towards optimal control design
of active and semi-active suspension systems. The section
also deals with the objective of minimizing road damage in
truck and heavy vehicle suspensions. Suspension optimization
techniques utilized to minimize integral square of tire force are
mentioned. It also discusses design considerations that come
into picture when designing the entire suspension system,
consisting of both active and passive components. In section
5, the authors elaborate upon features of suspension systems
already in production, as well as those near production. Self
levelling, Variable suspension damping, Roll control, which
are features of mostly semi-active suspensions, and Variable
suspension geometry, Narrow Control bandwidth, and Broad
Bandwidth Active Suspension (BBAS), which are applicable
fo Active Suspensions, are discussed. Further, the concept of
previewing road disturbances through “look-ahead” sensors/
GPS information, and designing anticipatory active suspen-
sions in production vehicles is also discussed.
V. PROS AND CONS
The pros of the work include:
• Extensive literature survey on suspension control systems
spanning a large period of time.
• Discussions on both passenger vehicle as well as heavy
vehicle suspensions.
• Perspectives on design of suspension systems from an
industry point of view (authors being from Ford), thus
giving insights for suspension designers in the field.
VI. SCOPE OF FUTURE WORK
The authors have restricted themselves to 2 DOF QC model
using LQ optimal control, with focus on ride comfort, in
this study. As explained by them in further sections, the
work can be extended to provide more weightage to road/load
disturbances. Further, the work can be extended to provide
more emphasis on trucks/heavy commercial vehicles.