Fuzzy-logic-based control applied to a hybrid electric

vehicle with four separate wheel drives

R. Pusca, Y. Ait-Amirat, A. Berthon and J.-M. Kauffmann

Abstract: The authors present a detailed modelling study and a control system for a hybrid electric
vehicle with four separate wheel drives. This configuration allows an improvement in the
operability and thereby the safety of vehicles either during cornering or under slippery road
conditions. Using electric motors it is possible to implement a quick and precise torque control. In
order to obtain a better and precise dynamic performance a combined strategy Slip-ESP (electronic
stability program) is created. A ‘fuzzy estimator of vehicle speed’ which assures the reference
vehicle speed used in the control system is also presented.

Nomenclature lg rd logical signal (zero or one) obtained from yaw rate

difference (reference and measure)
m total mass of the vehicle
ax vehicle longitudinal acceleration m1 vehicle mass in the front axle
ay vehicle lateral acceleration m2 vehicle mass in the rear axle
Ci logical signal (zero or one) used in electronic Mz external moment about the z direction of the vehicle
stability program block axes
Cfa front cornering stiffness r vehicle yaw rate (measured by a gyroscope sensor)
Cra rear cornering stiffness rr reference yaw rate (calculated)
e front wheel arm rw wheels radius
Fc centrifugal force si wheel slip of the ith wheel
Fi friction force between ith tyre and road surface si est estimate slip of the i th wheel
Fi rol rolling resistance force Si logical signal (0 or 1) of the i th tyre slip
Fiz normal load of the ith tyre V vehicle velocity (in CG)
Ff lateral force applied by the front wheels Vi speed of the ith wheel
Fr lateral force applied by the rear wheels Vi cg speed of the ith wheel calculate at the CG
Fy sum of the forces in the lateral direction of vehicle Vfuz vehicle speed in CG calculate by fuzzy estimator
(cornering force) Vref vehicle velocity reference obtained from vehicle
f rolling resistance coefficient simulation model
imi motor current of the ith wheel Vx velocity of the vehicle along x direction
imax maximal motor current Vy velocity of the vehicle along y direction
I
current (p.u.) proportional with pedal reference vi c speed of the ith wheel calculated at the CG as a
Ii motor current (p.u.) ðIi ¼ imi =imax Þ function of the motor current
I0 motor current (p.u.) for zero slip value wi wheel ‘i’ i 2 ð14Þ
Jz yaw inertia moment of vehicle Tt i traction torque of the ith wheel
k e.m.f constant DT sampling rate of calculation cycle (9 ms)
kpi output coefficient after defuzzyfication DVi speed variation of the wheel wi


kpj contribution of the ith wheel in vehicle speed ai sideslip angle of the ith wheel
estimation af sideslip angle at the front wheels ða1 ¼ a2 ¼ af Þ
lf distance from centre of gravity (CG) to the front axle ar sideslip angle at the rear wheels ða3 ¼ a4 ¼ ar Þ
lr distance from CG to the rear axle d steering angle
lg r logical signal (zero or one) obtained from ‘r’ g1 steering angle of the right front wheel ðw1 Þ
lg d logical signal (zero or one) obtained from wheel g2 steering angle of the left front wheel ðw2 Þ
steering angle li characteristic gradient during cornering
lg Dr logical signal (zero or one) obtained from absolute mi adhesion coefficient of the ith road/tyre interface
yaw rate value
1 Introduction

q IEE, 2004 An objective of the automotive industry during the 21st

IEE Proceedings online no. 20040066
doi: 10.1049/ip-cta:20040066
Paper received 16th April 2003
The authors are with L2ES (Electrical Engineering and Systems
Laboratory), University Franche-Comte (UFC), Technical University of
Belfort-Montbeliard (UTBM), Bat. F, Rue Thierry Mieg, F90010 Belfort
Cedex, France
IEE Proc.-Control Theory Appl., Vol. 151, No. 1, January 2004
century is the development of a non-polluting and safe
vehicle. These constraints are the consequence of the
increasing use of internal combustion engined vehicles.
An electric vehicle (EV) seems to meet these constraints,
but its autonomy problems remain unsolved. A conceivable
solution is to produce electrical energy on board the
vehicle, using an internal combustion engine (ICE) or a
73

Fig. 1 Hybrid electrical vehicle with four separate wheel drives
Fig. 2 Wheel motor
fuel cell (FC). This configuration is called a series hybrid
electric vehicle (HEV) and it is the configuration used in our
system, (Fig. 1).
Using this configuration, it is necessary to ensure
an optimised energy consumption management system.
A mechanical differential gear is not necessary because the
torque regulation can be performed by power electronics.
In order to achieve a good performances, an EV or HEV
cannot be an adapted model of a classical vehicle. It must be
a new one. Only by these conditions can its success be
Fig. 3 Global control system of a HEV
74
assured. The driving wheel motors (Fig. 2) [1, 2] are located
in the front of the vehicle. The rear driveshaft is equipped
with classical motors. The motors are of a permanent
magnet synchronous brushless DC type fed by classical
IGBT inverters.
With this vehicle configuration an independent traction
control of each wheel is possible and electric traction gives
the possibility to achieve accurate and quick control of the
torque distribution.
In order to ensure the stability of the vehicle, the system
of four independent driving wheels requires a symmetrical
distribution of the torque between the wheels of the same
shaft (right and left). This is an essential condition to
guarantee the safety and stability of the vehicle. This
symmetric distribution is not satisfactory when the adhesion
coefficients ðmÞ of the tyres vary. The adhesion coefficient is
directly related to the wheel slip ‘si ’ defined as:
Vi  V
si ¼ ð1Þ
maxðVi ; VÞ
The best value for the adhesion coefficient for different
roads is obtained for si ¼ ð0:05  0:25Þ [3]. So, a control
algorithm is necessary to adjust the slip coefficient of each
wheel. This control is possible only if the slip coefficient si
is closely estimated. In the case of straight line motion, a
limitation of a slip coefficient in the stable area is sufficient.
During a turn, the four wheels have different speeds. So,
in order to provide a good traction control algorithm, the
estimation of the slip value must take into account these
differences. In the global control system of a HEV, this is
the task of the block ‘speed correction during cornering’
shown in Fig. 3.
2 Speed corection
To obtain a good estimation of the slip coefficient during
cornering, the measured speed values Vi ; i 2 ð14Þ of each
wheel must be corrected. With reference to Fig. 4 the
IEE Proc.-Control Theory Appl., Vol. 151, No. 1, January 2004

Fig. 4 Model of vehicle during cornering
following relationships have been used for a first approxi-
mation of the wheel speed at the vehicle centre of gravity
CG [4]:
cosðdÞ
V1 cg ¼ speed (measured by specific sensors). Therefore, in order to
cosðarctgððIr =LÞtg dÞÞ
L sin jg1 j
 V
sin jdjðL þ signðdÞ  e  sin jdjÞ 1
cosðdÞ
V2 cg ¼
cosðarctgððIr =LÞtg dÞÞ
L sin jg2 j
 V
sin jdjðL  signðdÞ  e  sin jdjÞ 2
cosðdÞ
V3 cg ¼
cosðarctgððIr =LÞtg dÞÞ
L DT
 V
L cos jdj þ signðdÞ  d  sin jdj 3
cosðdÞ
V4 cg ¼
cosðarctgððIr =LÞtg dÞÞ
L small speed of the vehicle, traction-brake jumping) to avoid
 V
L cos jdj  signðdÞ  d  sin jdj 4
where d is the measured steering angle, of, g1 is the steering
angle of the right-front wheel, g2 is the steering angle of the
left-front wheel, e is the front-wheel arm, lr is the distance
from CG to the rear axle (Fig. 4). The angles g1 and g2 are
defined by:
g2 ¼ signðdÞarctg


ðL  signðdÞ  e  sin jdjÞ  sin jdj
 force. The adhesion coefficient mainly depends on the
Lcos jdj  signðdÞ  ðe  cos jdj þ d2 Þ  sin jdj
IEE Proc.-Control Theory Appl., Vol. 151, No. 1, January 2004
g1 ¼ signðdÞarctg


ðL þ signðdÞ  e  sin jdjÞ  sin jdj

L cos jdj þ signðdÞ  ðe  cos jdj þ d2 Þ  sin jdj
ð7Þ
3 Fuzzy estimator of vehicle speed
The performances of the proposed control system are
dependent on the quality of the reference vehicle velocity.
For a vehicle with two drive wheels the velocity can be
estimated by measuring the speed of a non-drive wheel but
in critical cases, the errors are significant. Sensors such as
optical or Doppler effect sensors are able to measure this
speed, but due to their high cost, they are not used in the car
industry. For the proposed vehicle, a fuzzy logic estimator,
which uses measured signals of motor currents and wheel
speeds, has been designed and implemented.
The fuzzy estimator can be divided into three levels
(Fig. 3). The first level is a preprocessing of measured
signals, the second applies the fuzzy rules set and the third
one represents the decision and final processing level.
3.1 Processing of measured signals
In order to take into account the speed of each wheel during
a turn, as a first approximation, (2) –(7) correct the wheel
achieve a good estimation of the slip coefficient si the first
level of the fuzzy estimator uses these correcting signals.
ð2Þ We have identical blocks for each wheel called ‘slip
estimation’ (Fig. 3). A second correction of measured
speeds is a function of the traction torque (current) provide
by each motor called the ‘speed correction during traction
mode’.
3.1.1 Slip estimation: The input signal of a slip-
estimation block is the corrected wheel speeds Vicg ðtÞ; at the
ð3Þ
CG of the vehicle, and estimated vehicle velocity in the
previous estimation cycle Vfuz · ðt  DTÞ: The output signals
are the slip-coefficient si and the variation of wheel speed
DVi given by:
DVi Vi cg ðtÞ  Vi cg ðt  DTÞ
¼ ð8Þ
DT
ð4Þ
The variation of the wheel speed DVi =DT has been
calculated using a sampling rate of 9 ms. Matlab/Simulink
software has been used for simulation.
For the correlation between the speed variation and the
input of the fuzzy controller, a normalisation of the signal is
needed. For the solution of critical cases (starting, at a very
ð5Þ a division by zero, offset values (0.01 and 0.005) are used.
The block structure is shown in Fig. 5.
3.1.2 Traction mode of the wheels
3.1.2.1 Wheel slip: The performances of the vehicle
during braking and driving mode are also dependent on the
frictional force between the ith tyre and the road surface. It is
expressed as:
Fi ¼ mi Fiz ð9Þ
where mi is the adhesion coefficient and Fiz the normal
condition of the road surface and as a first approximation it
ð6Þ can be expressed as a function of the wheel slip mðsÞ [5].
75
Fig. 5 Implementation of the slip-estimation block for w1
If the vehicle is moving in a turn mi is also influenced by
the wheel sideslip angle ai : A typical characteristic is
shown in Fig. 6 [6].
In Fig. 6 it is possible to note that a wheel can exert a
longitudinal force (torque) only if the wheel has a non-
vanishing longitudinal slip ðmx ðsÞ ¼ 0 for s ¼ 0Þ: There-
fore, the measured speed of a drive wheel must be correlated
with its traction torque in order to assure a good speed
reference for a decision block.
For a wheel in free straight rolling conditions, the wheel
slip is si ¼ 0 and its linear velocity can be considered to be
the same as the vehicle velocity. If a torque (driving or
braking) is produced by the wheel, the slip is si 6¼ 0 and in
this case, the proposed system takes into account and wheel
slip in order to obtain a good estimation of vehicle velocity.
3.1.2.2 Wheel slip and motor current: The relationship
between the traction torque and current is:
Tt i ¼ 2kimi ð10Þ
where k is the e.m.f. constant and imi the motor current.
With reference to Fig. 6, and (9) and (10) it is possible to
estimate the wheel slip as a function of the motor current
sðim Þ: This is obtained using a vehicle simulation model
given in [7]. A typical characteristic is shown in Fig. 7. In the
considered case, applying a maximal traction torque, the
longitudinal slip of the tyre leaves the stable area. If si is
detected near a skate boundary ðsi > 5%Þ the ‘traction
control’ system decrease the current reference in order to
maintain si in a stable area.
In Fig. 7 it can be observed that the slip si increases with
the motor current. To approach this characteristic a
simplified model is preferred. It is a compromise between
a satisfactorily accurate wheel slip estimation and the
complexity of the system in a real-time implementation:
si est ¼ aIi3 þ bIi  c ð11Þ
Fig. 6 Longitudinal and lateral adhesion coefficients during
cornering for given values of the sideslip angle
76
Fig. 7 Wheel slip and estimate slip coefficient as a function of the
motor current
where Ii ¼ imi =imax : Coefficients a, b and c are obtained
from experimental characteristic of the tyre slip.
3.1.2.3 Rolling resistance force: With reference to Fig. 7
it is possible to note that for a zero value of the motor current
si ¼ c (the wheel is braked). This is a consequence of a
high rolling resistance force ðFi rol Þ: For small values of Fi rol
the wheel slip can be considered to be si  0: To
estimate the rolling resistance the following expression
has be used:
Fi rol ¼ fFiz ¼ ð f0 þ kf V 2 ÞFiz ð12Þ
f is the rolling resistance coefficient ( f0 and kf are values
that must be measured on any particular tyre) and V is the
vehicle velocity. From (10) and (12) the slip value is si ðIi Þ ¼
0 for Ii ¼ I0 ¼ f0 rw Fiz =2kimax (for traction force Tt i =rw
equal to the rolling resistance force). So, to correct the
measured wheel speed during traction mode, the following
relationships are used:

vic ¼ ð1  si est ÞVi cg if Ii > I0
vic ¼ Vi cg =ð1  si est Þ if Ii < I0 ð13Þ
where Vi cg is the wheel speed at the CG (Fig. 3) after
cornering correction and si cst is the estimate wheel slip (11).
3.2 Fuzzy logic controller
The fuzzy controller is the second level of a fuzzy-estimator
block and calculates a single output, kpi This coefficient
decides the contribution of each wheel speed in the
estimation of the vehicle velocity. For example, for wheel
w2 in the skate case, the slip coefficient s2 or wheel variation
DV2 =DT has high values and the contribution of this wheel
in the speed estimation is slow ð
kp2 ! 0:05Þ:
This solution has been chosen in order to reduce the
number of rules. Due to the high system inertia, the
sampling time is not critical, so we have defined five
linguistic variables both in the input and the output, with the
same normalised interval, in the range [2 5% 5%] for inputs
and [2 1 1] in output. They are: NL, NM, ZE, PM, PL,
where N means ‘negative’, P ‘positive’, L ‘large’,
M ‘medium’, ZE ‘zero’. Figure 8 shows the input
fuzzyfication.
The defuzzyfication of output was realised by the height
method (Fig. 9) [8, 9].
The fuzzy rule set are summarised in Table 1.
IEE Proc.-Control Theory Appl., Vol. 151, No. 1, January 2004
 Fig. 10 Implementation of the processing block used in the
simulation

where memberships function
kpi are defined as:

8

>
> kp1 ¼ 1:05  kp1
<
k ¼ 1:05  k
p2 p2


>
> k ¼ 1:05  kp3
:
p3
kp4 ¼ 1:05  kp4 ð16Þ
As there is a nil value of kpi when the best conditions
ðsi ¼ 0; dVi =dT ¼ 0Þ for measured wheel speed are
assured, the output membership has been reversed (16).
The case when the four wheels are in a critical situation
Fig. 8 Linguistic function fuzzyfication
ðkpi ¼ 1Þ is the worst case. As a solution, the reference
signal is composed of the integral of the longitudinal
acceleration sensor and the amount of the possible wheel
speed reference, using a value of 1.05 and not one.
In the second part, the final relationship for estimating the
vehicle velocity is implemented. The configuration of the
‘processing’ block used in the simulations is shown in
Fig. 10.
This block is a combination of an integral signal given by
the longitudinal acceleration sensor and discrete values of
the measured wheel speeds. The following relationship has
been used:

kv ðtÞ þ ðax ðtÞ  ax ðt  1ÞÞDT þ Vfuz ðt  1Þ

Fig. 9 Linguistic function of defuzzyfication Vfuz ðtÞ ¼
1 þ ki
ð17Þ
Table 1: Rule bases used to calculate the contribution of
each wheel in the estimation of the vehicle velocity

kpi si
NL NM ZE PM PL

DVi =DT NL NL NL NL PL PL
NM NL NM NM PM PL
ZE NL NM ZE PM PL
PM NL NM PM PM PL
PL NL NL PL PL PL

The chosen rules table makes a compromise between the

high wheel speed oscillations during critical mode and a
smooth output.

3.3 Final processing

The final processing level can be decomposed in two parts,
the first produces the amount of control output at a ‘fuzzy
logic controller’ and the second realises the processing of
these signals.
In the first part, the following relationships are used for
the design of the decision block:
kv ¼
kp1 v1c þ
kp2 v2c þ
kp3 v3c þ
kp4 v4c ð14Þ
Fig. 11 Estimated vehicle speed Vfuz in comparison with vehicle
ki ¼
kp1 þ
kp2 þ
kp3 þ
kp4 ð15Þ velocity reference and wheel speeds
IEE Proc.-Control Theory Appl., Vol. 151, No. 1, January 2004 77
A simulated model of the vehicle has been used in [7] in force ðFc Þ: In this case, the motion equations in the
order to estimate the performances of the ‘fuzzy estimator’. reference frame of the vehicle (x, y) are given by
It gives the vehicle velocity Vref used as a reference in the X
simulations. In the processing block (Fig. 10), the measured Fy ¼ 2Ff þ 2Fr ¼ ðm1 þ m2 ÞðV y þ Vx rÞ ð19Þ
data ax of the longitudinal acceleration sensor are simulated
using a discrete derivative signal of the Vref input. In a real X
implementation, the measured data must first be filtered Mz ¼ 2lr Fr  2lf Ff ¼ Jz r ð20Þ
with a low-pass filter in order to obtain a small signal
shift [10]. with m1 þ m2 ¼ m the vehicle mass, r being the vehicle yaw
The estimation velocity Vfuz for a vehicle moving at an rate, Jz the yaw inertia moment and Vx and Vy ; the
uncertain speed is shown in Fig. 11. longitudinal and lateral velocities. The ESP block has been
In Fig. 11, the estimated speed Vfuz is compared with designed using the dynamics equations, (19) and (20). In
the reference speed of vehicle Vref and the wheel order to obtain a stable behaviour of the car, the traction
speeds Vi ; ði 2 ð14ÞÞ: It can be observed that during torque on both right and left sides must be equal [11, 12].
a critical case for wheels w1 and w2 (wheel w1 slips and This is obtained by giving the same reference torque to the
wheel w2 brakes), Vfuz is slightly modified by their motors in the front and rear axles of the vehicle.
variation. A small difference between Vfuz and Vref is If the vehicle is turning and m1 is different to m2 ; or when
obtained due to the approximated expression of the slip a wheel skates, the sideslip angles of the tyre are not equal.
characteristic (11). In this case the vehicle does not obtain a neutral steering
response and it has an unstable behaviour. The goal of the
4 Traction control ESP block is to correct the yaw motion of the vehicle by
giving different wheel torque references to both sides. The
The control of the wheel torque is very important to command rules are partially given in the Table 2.
determine dynamic behaviour and the stability of the For the inputs presented in Table 2 following relation-
vehicle. The research work on the stability aspect is still ships are used Si ¼ 0; if the wheel slip ‘si ’ is in a stable area
in progress. Using the inherent advantage of a vehicle with ði 2 ð14ÞÞ: Si ¼ 1; if ‘si ’ is near the boundary of a skate
electric traction (the possibility to achieve a precise and area. In this case, the torque of this wheel cannot be
quick control in torque distribution) to control the lateral modified by the ESP system.
and longitudinal dynamics, a traction control now is 
proposed. This system is divided in two parts, the first lg r ¼ 0 if r 0
(ESP) controls the reference torque to obtain the desired lg r ¼ 1 if r > 0 ð21Þ
yaw motion of the vehicle and the second (‘slip correction’)
has a priority action to modify the torque reference and thus 
lg d ¼ 0 if d 0
maintain the adherence coefficient between tyre and road in
lg d ¼ 1 if d>0 ð22Þ
a slip area (no skate).

4.1 ESP control lg Dr ¼ 0 if ðjrj  jrr jÞ 0 or r ¼ 0
Considering a vehicle moving in cruise mode on a straight lg Dr ¼ 1 if ðjrj  jrr jÞ > 0 and r 6¼ 0 ð23Þ
and flat road, in these circumstances the cornering force
given by (18) is zero. 
X l g rd ¼ 0 if jr  rr j limmin
Fy ¼ 2Ff þ 2Fr ¼ 2Cfa af  2Cra ar ¼ 0 ð18Þ l g rd ¼ 1 if jr  rr j > limmax ð24Þ
with Cfa being the front cornering stiffness, Cra the rear with lg logical signal (zero or one value), r measures the
cornering stiffness, af and ar ; are the front and rear sideslip yaw rate (by a gyroscope sensor), rr is the reference yaw
angles and Ff and Fr ; lateral forces applied to the front rate, limmax ; and limmin are the superiour and inferior limits
and rear wheels. For simplicity reasons a two-degrees- of the adjustable error interval. Between limmin and limmax ;
of-freedom model with front wheel steering is used. the last logical value (zero or one) of lg rd will be
In a turn movement of the vehicle (Fig. 4), the cornering maintained. For the output of rules Table 2, four logical
force is not zero and to maintain the good vehicle trajectory commands signal Ci determines which wheel will be
it must control the vehicle moment ðMz Þ and centrifugal braked. An integral signal is used to modify the reference

Table 2: Partial logical table of rules

Number S1 S2 S3 S4 lg  lg Dr lg rd lg r C1 C2 C3 C4

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
33 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
34 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
254 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
255 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0

78 IEE Proc.-Control Theory Appl., Vol. 151, No. 1, January 2004

Fig. 12 Implementation of the ESP block
of the acceleration or brake pedal. The implementation of
this block is shown in Fig. 12.
In order to achieve a suggestive Figure, only a few
internal signals are presented in the explicit implementation
of the ESP blocks.

4.2 Slip control

This block corrects the reference current of the wheel
motors during critical cases in order to maintain the wheel
slip si near the left-side of the longitudinal characteristic
peak (Fig. 6). During turning the cornering force influences
the adhesion characteristic. With reference to Fig. 6 the
adhesion coefficient can be expressed as:

mi ðsi ; af ; ar Þ if Vi > V
mi ðsi ; af ; ar Þ ¼
mi ðsi ; af ; ar Þ if Vi < V ð25Þ

The slip wheel reference during turning has been approxi-

mated as:
simin
si ¼ simax þ minðai ; amax Þ ð26Þ
li  amax

where the numerical values used in the simulations are

simax ¼ 5%; simin ¼ 4% and li ¼ 1:5: The coefficient li is the
characteristic gradient during cornering defined by:

Fig. 14 Vehicle yaw rate during steering in a critical case

a Without ESP
Fig. 13 Slip control block for wheel w1 b With ESP

IEE Proc.-Control Theory Appl., Vol. 151, No. 1, January 2004 79

 Dmi superiour mass in the front shaft of the vehicle, during a
li ¼ ð27Þ turn, that involves violent braking or a high speed, the
Dsi
vehicle has an understeer behaviour. Controlling the
The implementation of slip control is shown in Fig. 13. steering angle can eliminate small amounts of difference
The following formulas are used to estimate the front and yaw motion. For high values (critical case) the ESP system
rear sideslip angle: brakes the rear inside wheel of the curve, to stabilise the
Vy þ rlf vehicle trajectory.
af ¼ d ð28Þ Figure 14 shows the variation of the yaw motion during
Vx
Vy  rlr understeer behaviour. This case corresponds to position
ar ¼ ð29Þ number 3 in Table 2. It can be observed that the difference
Vx between the reference rr and measured r yaw rate is
where the lateral velocity Vy is obtained by the integration of regulated in order to improve the understeer vehicle
the lateral acceleration ay [13]: behaviour. The variation of the wheel speed and motor
Z t current compared with the pedal reference ðI
Þ during a
Vy ¼ ay dt  rVx ð30Þ critical case are shown in Fig. 15.
0 Let us now consider a snowy road surface. In this case,
In order to maintain a good adhesion coefficient between the the slip control block ensures the maximal adhesion
tyre and the road, with reference to (26) a maximum sideslip coefficient, but this coefficient does not ensure enough
angle amax must be imposed. For af > amax (Fig. 13), the slip braking force and wheel w3 cannot correct the yaw motion
reference is constant (not modified) and the current reference of the vehicle. This corresponds to position number 34 in
(proportional to the pedal reference) will be modified if the Table 2. Therefore, an additional force given by wheel w1
wheel slip is outside of a limited area ðs1 > 4%Þ: will intervene in order to improve the vehicle behaviour.
This case is shown in Fig. 16.
5 Simulation results It can be observed that the wheel w3 gives a maximum
braking and w1 a complementary braking (Fig. 16b). All
Let us consider a vehicle with m1 > m2 moving in cruise possible working conditions have been implemented in the
mode and beginning a right turn (Fig. 4). Due to these logical table using 256 rules, but not all the critical cases can
be corrected by this method. These cases that cannot be
corrected, and the normal cases where an intervention of the
ESP system is not required have been codified by means of a
zero output command. For example, the 255th position in

Fig. 16 Variation during combination ESP-Slip control for

Fig. 15 snowy road surface in a critical case
a Characteristics of wheel speed during ESP correction a Variation of wheel speeds
b Characteristics of motor current during ESP correction b Variation of slip coefficient

80 IEE Proc.-Control Theory Appl., Vol. 151, No. 1, January 2004

the logical table, where all four wheels are slipping and
si cross the skate surface.
6 Conclusions
If the vehicle is moving on a straight or twisting road with a
uniform and good adhesion coefficient then a symmetric
distribution of the torque on both sides is satisfactory to
assure vehicle stability. Unfortunately, in critical situations,
a traction control algorithm must be applied to ensure safety
and stability.
A control system designed for a vehicle with four
separate wheel drives has been described. Using simul-
taneously, the advantage of electric propulsion and the
possibility to independently control torque for each wheel,
this system is able to improve the longitudinal and lateral
vehicle dynamics.
A combined torque, spin and skid control has been
proposed. The difficulty in implementing such a control
10 Daib, A., and Kiencke, U.: ‘Estimation of Vehicle Speed Fuzzy-
system is to measure the required parameters. Consequently,
several parameters have been estimated. Furthermore, these
11 Arnet, B., and Jufer, M.: ‘Torque control on electric vehicles with
controls involve a precise reference vehicle speed. Using an
original approach that uses the measured current of each
motor and fuzzy logic, a good estimation of the vehicle
12 Waltermann, P.: ‘Modelling and control of the longitudinal and lateral
velocity is given.
In the future we intend to experimentally validate our
13 Matsumoto, N., and Tomizuka, M.: ‘Vehicle lateral velocity and yaw
approach by implementing the proposed control system on a
vehicle, which is under construction.
IEE Proc.-Control Theory Appl., Vol. 151, No. 1, January 2004
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