Mechatronics 23 (2013) 135–146

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Mechatronics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mechatronics

Longitudinal wheel slip control using dynamic neural networks

Velimir Ćirović, Dragan Aleksendrić ⇑, Dušan Smiljanić
University of Belgrade Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Kraljice Marije 16, 11120 Belgrade 35, Serbia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The control of automotive braking systems performance and a wheel slip is a challenging problem due to
Received 12 March 2012 nonlinear dynamics of a braking process and a tire–road interaction. When the wheel slip is not between
Accepted 30 November 2012 the optimal limits during braking, the desired tire–road friction force cannot be achieved, which influ-
Available online 3 January 2013
ences braking distance, the loss in steerability and maneuverability of the vehicle. In this paper, the
new approach, based on dynamic neural networks, has been employed for improving of the longitudinal
Keywords: wheel slip control. This approach is based on dynamic adaptation of the brake actuation pressure, during
Neural network control
a braking cycle, according to the identified maximum adhesion coefficient between the wheel and road.
Wheel slip
Commercial vehicles
The brake actuated pressure was adjusted on the level which provides the optimal longitudinal wheel slip
versus the brake actuated pressure selected by a driver, the current vehicle speed, load conditions, the
brake interface temperature and the current value of the wheel slip. The dynamic neural network has
been used for modeling of a nonlinear functional relationship between the brake actuation pressure
and the longitudinal wheel slip during a braking cycle. It provided preconditions for control of the brake
actuation pressure based on the wheel slip change.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction sely related to vehicle stability and steerability while braking.

A focus of today’s automotive industry is development of active
safety systems, which assist the driver in order to avoid dangerous
situations [1–3]. Active safety and comfortability of vehicles during
braking is decisively influenced by processes occurring at the tire/
road interaction [4,5]. Since the driver is unable to estimate the
optimum brake pedal force required to achieve maximum braking
effectiveness, especially on a wet, muddy or icy surface, this in turn
can cause the wheel to lock and skid [6,7]. It provokes anti-lock
braking system intervention in order to prevent the wheel slip
increasing and its locking. The wheel slip should be kept within
the range where maximum adhesion is available in order to pro-
vide shorter braking distance, stability and controllability of the
vehicle. The control of a wheel slip during braking is a difficult task
due to nonlinear dynamics of a braking process, followed by uncer-
tainty and dynamic varying of the environmental parameters such
as the wheel vertical load state, the road friction coefficient, and
road inclination [8]. There are other important reasons such as ab-
sence of affordable sensors that are capable to identify the road
surface accurately [9], for instance. In addition, the wheel slip can-
not be measured directly, and therefore an accurate measurement
of vehicle’s absolute velocity is required to calculate its value.
Regarding modern vehicles, sophisticated systems like ABS/
ASR/ESP/EBS were developed recently to overcome problems clo-
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +381 11 3370 346; fax: +381 11 3370 364.
E-mail address: daleksendric@mas.bg.ac.rs (D. Aleksendrić).
These electronically controlled systems improve vehicle safety
while braking or traction, especially on low-friction road surfaces,
allowing the driver to maintain steering control of the vehicle, to
avoid obstacles and to reduce the vehicle stopping distance [10].
All these systems based their function on an efficient transmission
of the brake control signal from the driver to the brakes. The key
issue is related to development of the advanced method for the
brake signal control and its adaptation to the current tire–road
adhesion conditions. Standard ABS systems mainly use rule-based
control logics. These systems use previously installed expert
knowledge to control of braking system performance. Moreover,
they are not capable to learn and update their performance in
accordance with changes of a brake operating regime and condi-
tions in the tire/road contact during a braking cycle. However,
EBS offers possibilities for further innovative solutions towards
introduction of the wheel slip intelligent control during braking.
Recently, there are a number of studies related to the wheel slip
control offering different approaches in that area. Since conven-
tional control techniques may not be adequate to address demands
related to wheel slip control [11], the advanced control techniques
should be used to cope with uncertainties of the wheel dynamics. It
is related to the on-line modeling of the complex functional rela-
tionship between the brake performance and tire–road adhesion
conditions. Furthermore, such acquired knowledge should be used
for development of the controller able to adjust the brake perfor-
mance, during a braking cycle, according to the optimum/wanted
wheel slip against the current tire–road adhesion characteristics.

0957-4158/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mechatronics.2012.11.007
136 V. Ćirović et al. / Mechatronics 23 (2013) 135–146
Until now, researches are focused on simulation and control of ad-
vanced control systems (like ABS) using nonlinear mathematical
models [10,12–14], employing of classic sliding mode control
[15,16] or using moving sliding surface [6] or steady-state friction
models of a tire–road interaction [17,18]. In most cases, generation
of the wheel slip control reference is based on semi-empirical stea-
dy-state tyre models. A certain adaptive approaches that use the
neural network control in combination with mentioned methods
are also available. In [7], the feedback linearization technique,
combined with two feedforward neural networks, has been used.
Neural networks have been also employed in [19] as an addition
to state estimator, which is based on nominal steady-state friction
model. Adaptive control approach proposed in [9] is used to design
a wheel slip regulating controller, such that a pseudo-static curve
is used to calculate the reference slip, under assumption that it var-
ies as a function of the vehicle velocity. These approaches to the
wheel slip control indicate lack of accurate dynamic model that
could describe the complex relationship between the brake actua-
tion pressure, such generated performance and the wheel slip. Dy-
namic on-line modeling of this relationship should be further used
to design a controller, able to control the wheel slip at the tire/road
contact simultaneously taking into account the synergistic influ-
ence of the brake operation conditions, driver’s demands, vehicle
load state, different road surface types and tire/road adhesion
conditions.
In this paper, our research has been focused on dynamic model-
ing of the functional relationship between the brake actuated pres-
sure and a wheel slip in order to provide preconditions for an
intelligent control of the longitudinal wheel slip during braking
of the commercial vehicle (bus) equipped with EBS. A dynamically
changed functional correlation between the brake actuated pres-
sure and the wheel slip, for actual tire/road adhesion conditions,
current values of wheel speed, the brake interface temperature
and applied pressure has been established by the inverse dynamic
neural model. This model has been developed to approximate the
inverse feedforward dynamics of the brake performance together
with processes occurring at the tire–road interaction. Based on
that, dynamic adjusting of the brake actuated pressure was done
on the level that provides the optimum wheel slip versus driver’s
demands, different wheel load conditions, actual brake operation
conditions (pressure, speed and temperature) and actual tire/road
adhesion characteristics (real wheel slip). The neural controller,
based on the model and such dynamically updated knowledge
about the complex the brake pressure – wheel slip functional rela-
tionship, was able to perform the dynamic adaptation of the brake
actuation pressure on the level which provides the wanted wheel
slip. Thus, changes of all relevant factors that influence the brake
performance, i.e. generated braking torque and its transfer over tire
to the road surface are taken into consideration. This control ap-
proach could be further used for optimization of the brake pressure
activation, which satisfied adhesion utilization between tire and
road surfaces in both longitudinal and lateral directions.
2. Theoretical and experimental approach
The EBS consists of a dual-circuit, purely pneumatic unit and a
single-circuit, electro-pneumatic unit, see Fig. 1. The single-circuit,
electro-pneumatic unit comprises a central electronic control de-
vice, i.e. central module (1), the axle modulator with integrated
electronic unit for the rear axle (5), a brake signal transmitter (2)
with two integrated desired value sensors and brake switches, as
well as a proportional relay valve (3) and two ABS valves for the
front axle (4). The 3/2 relay valve (6) is used to supply air to and
remove air quickly from the brake cylinder on the rear axle in case
of redundancy. In terms of structure, the dual-circuit pneumatic
Fig. 1. A functional scheme of the bus EBS braking system [20].
unit corresponds to that of a conventional braking system. This
unit serves as redundancy and only becomes active in case of elec-
tro-pneumatic circuit failure [20]. The EBS electronics can respec-
tively reduce, stop or increase the braking pressure for brake
cylinders (8) over the front axle using the ABS magnetic control
valve (4). The axle modulator (5) fulfils the same task for the rear
axle cylinders (9) where the control algorithms are integrated in
the electronics [20,21]. Within EBS framework, the ABS based its
function on permanently receiving of current information concern-
ing the speed of the wheels through speed sensors (7), see Fig. 1.
The ability of ABS to maintain vehicle stability and steerability
by preventing wheels from locking primarily depends on the rela-
tion between the adhesion coefficient (u) and wheel slip ratio (k).
Different integrated brake management functions recognize devia-
tions from the normal driving conditions and intervene in the driv-
ing process at hazards. The main brake management functions
provided by EBS are: (i) delay control, (ii) braking force distribu-
tion, (iii) brake pad wear control, (iv) brake assistant, (v) Anti Roll-
ing Control (ARB), (vi) integrated ABS function, and (vii) integrated
ASR function [20]. Realization of the most important functions of
EBS is based on the proper wheel slip control. Accordingly, the
braking force distribution and ABS function in the frame of EBS
operation could be further improved.
Dynamic identification of the actual wheel slip and the real-
time estimation of the wheel slip ratio is a crucial for control of
the wheel slip. In [22–26] was shown that the real-time estimation
of the wheel slip ratio corresponding to the peak of the tire–road
adhesion (friction) curve could provide availability of reliable
information on its current value to the wheel slip control system.
According to [22,23,27], the adhesion–slip curve during braking
can be written as dependence uðkÞ ¼ uðk; um ; bÞ, where u is the
current value of adhesion coefficient, um its maximal value, and
b is side slip angle. This constitutes the basis for collecting the data
suitable for the dynamic estimation of the adhesion coefficient and
identification of the current position of the u–k curve peak. To
realize that issue, a simplified approach for describing the wheel
dynamics, based on so-called quarter vehicle model, is used in this
paper. Accordingly, a few assumptions have been made. Accelera-
tion of the wheel in lateral (b = 0) and vertical directions has been
neglected. This is because braking cycles were performed on a
straight path and on a flat road surface. In addition, dynamics of
suspension elements and the existence of interaction between
any wheels of the vehicle were also neglected. In the case of disre-
garded suspension dynamics, the quarter vehicle forces are identi-
cal to the wheel vertical forces Fz. According to analysis of a wheel
dynamic behavior summarized in [28,29], relative movement be-
tween the tire and road surfaces is called ‘slip’ (k), which is
 V. Ćirović et al. / Mechatronics 23 (2013) 135–146 137

normally expressed as a percentage. The current wheel slip for a measured the vehicle velocity (v), measured vehicle longitudinal
braking condition can be calculated as follows: deceleration (a) and calculated the wheel angular deceleration,
the adhesion–slip curve can be determined online.
v  v x v  xr In order to analyze and identify possibilities for further improv-
k¼ ¼ ð1Þ
v v ing of EBS operation, and in turn integrated ABS in terms of better
wheel slip control, EBS operation of the bus has been investigated.
where v is the measured vehicle speed, vx is the forward wheel
Detailed descriptions of the vehicle characteristics are shown in
speed (longitudinal component of the total velocity vector), r is
Table 1. The built-in EBS of the bus has integrated ABS/ASR func-
the dynamic wheel radius, and x is the wheel angular speed of
tions, and brake assistant function which offers the driver early
revolution.
warning about potentially critical driving situation. Experimental
According to [22–24,27], the wheel slip dynamics for v > 0 and
data in this paper were used for development of the neural net-
x > 0 could be obtained by calculating the time derivative of the
work model for establishing the correlation between the brake
wheel slip:
actuated pressure and the wheel slip during a braking cycle. It is
 
d xr x_ r xr v_ 1 1 r2 important in order to approximate the dynamic change of the
k_ ¼ 1 ¼ þ ¼ ð1  kÞ þ brake performance, during a braking cycle, against the current va-
dt m v v v v m J
lue of the wheel slip. In order to provide data for establishing such
1r 1
F z uðk; um ; bÞ þ T ; v_ ¼  F z uðk; um ; bÞ functional correlation, testing of the EBS operation was performed
vJ b m under different braking conditions.
By making an assumption that the coefficient of friction (l) in Measurements were carried out during braking in a straight
the contact of brake friction pair can be considered approximately path, with engaged clutch and on dry asphalt road surface. All mea-
constant, the braking torque can be computed from measured the sured signals were acquired at a sampling rate of 200 Hz. The test-
brake actuated pressure pa as T b ¼ pa  l  K, where K is the con- ing has been done with the initial vehicle speed in the range
stant that includes all other geometrical properties of the brake. between 105 and 5 km/h and the brake actuated pressure between
The current value of adhesion coefficient can be then calculated 0 and 9 bar. The vehicle was tested under both unladen and laden
as: u ¼ ðJ x
_ þ T b Þ=F z r. An accurate dynamic estimating of the ac- operating conditions. The following parameters have been mea-
tual adhesion coefficient value significantly depends on current sured: (a) the vehicle’s speed, (b) air pressures in the brake cylin-
vertical force acting on the wheel. The force due to longitudinal ders on the front and rear axle, (c) the brake interface
deceleration of the vehicle at its center of gravity causes a pitch temperatures (temperature at the contact of friction pair) on the
torque, which results in dynamic redistribution of the vehicle load front and rear axle, (d) the wheel speeds on the front/rear axle,
from rear to the front axle. Constructing the torque balance at the and (e) deceleration of the vehicle in the longitudinal and lateral
contact point between the rear axle wheel and road yields to the directions. All these parameters were measured by appropriate
current value of the vertical force acting on the single front wheel, pressure, speed, temperature and deceleration sensor(s), respec-
see the following expression: tively. The vehicle speed is measured by radar-type speed sensor,
which operates using the principle of Doppler’s effect. It was
mðlr g þ hc aÞ mounted on the front end of the vehicle. Air pressure sensors were
F zf ¼ ð2Þ mounted to control ports on the front and rear brake cylinders.
2l
Data about the wheel speed have been obtained using vehicle
where m stands for the vehicle mass at center of gravity, a is the wheel speed sensors, already used by ABS (EBS). Since the wheel
vehicle longitudinal deceleration, hc is the height of center of grav- slip cannot be measured directly, it was calculated as a difference
ity, lr is distance between the center of gravity and rear axle, and l is between vehicle speed and wheel speed on the front/rear axle, and
the wheelbase. Based on the wheel speed sensors information, expressed in percentage.

Table 1
Main properties of the tested vehicle load, brakes, braking system and tires.

Vehicle data
Vehicle type Bus (4  2)
Static load (kg)
Front axle (FA) Rear axle (RA) Total
Unladen 4300 7460 11760
Laden 6560 10620 17180
Length/wheelbase 12.1 m/5.92 m
Center of gravity Height: 1.2 m (unladen), 1.1 m (laden)
EBS system properties
EBS system type EBS bus standard (4S/4 M)
ABS/ASR functions Integrated in EBS
ESC functionality Not supported
Enabled brake assistant Yes
FR braking force ratio at 0.15 g FA/RA 1
AV/AV1 1
Response pressure FA/RA 0.35/0.30 bar, respectively
Tire circumference FA/RA 3200/3200 mm, respectively
Redundancy RA installed Yes
Tire properties
Front/rear tires Steer/drive axle tire for long-haul operation (summer)
Dimension index 295/80R 22.5
Loaded radius 495/487 mm, respectively
Brake properties
Front/rear brake Air disc brake with self-ventilated disc (inside/outside diameter 170/460 mm)
138 V. Ćirović et al. / Mechatronics 23 (2013) 135–146
Fig. 2. The wheel slip change during braking (laden vehicle-front axle).
The wheel slip change during a braking cycle could have strong
impact on overall vehicle behavior. That is why, the wheel slip con-
trol is essentially important task regarding commercial vehicles.
Fig. 2 shows the characteristic example of a braking cycle with high
fluctuation of the wheel slip, measured on dry road conditions (la-
den vehicle). Instabilities of the wheel slip at the tire/road contact,
as well as its variation between 10% and 65% during a braking cycle
(see Fig. 2), could have non-negligible influence on the braking pro-
cess, potentially causing longer stopping distance, and difficulties in
stability and maneuverability of the vehicle. According to Fig. 2, EBS
brake management functions could be realized better in the sense
of recognizing the actual optimum wheel slip and keeping the
wheel slip in the range of the maximum adhesion. The EBS brake
forces management could be improved by suppressing the occur-
rence of high the wheel slip fluctuation during braking and bringing
the wheel slip on the optimum level. Experimental research done in
this paper has shown that the wheel slip ratio is not between the
actual optimal limits where maximum adhesion in the longitudinal
direction is available. Moreover, often the wheel slip was substan-
tially different from the optimum one. For example, braking cycle
illustrated in Fig. 2 indicates that EBS could not keep the wheel slip
within the optimal zone (see corresponding adhesion–slip curve
determined for the actual tire/road dynamic conditions). This leads
to the longer braking distance, which could be decisive in certain
risky braking situations.
It can be seen from Fig. 2 that EBS could not maintain the wheel
slip between 17% and 21% identified as the optimal region for this
braking condition. Between 0 and 2.2 s and 3.3 and 3.9 s of the
braking cycle, the wheel slip has a deviation from the optimal re-
gion. It means that in this case braking has not been performed
using the maximum available adhesion in the longitudinal
direction between the front axle tires and road. This indicates that
the all available potential for achieving of the maximal decelera-
tion of the vehicle has not been exploited in this situation and cre-
ates a need for better controlling of the wheel slip during a braking
cycle.
3. Dynamic neural network control
The complexity of requirements related to wheel slip control
creates a need for advanced control methods that would be useful
for improving of EBS (ABS) operation. Since the ABS primarily oper-
ates correctively, and knowing that model based approaches have
limitations for the operating conditions where the model is not
longer valid, predictive abilities for controlling of the wheel slip
have been provided in this paper. This was done by introducing
of an intelligent dynamic tuning of the brake actuation pressure
versus the wheel slip change using dynamic artificial neural net-
works. Based on that, vehicle’s brakes were intelligently controlled
in terms of providing the maximum braking effectiveness and
maintaining vehicle stability. Artificial neural networks have
shown to be an effective method for prediction a complex non-lin-
ear function [30–34] and time series events [35]. Static (feed-for-
ward) networks have no feedback elements and contain no
delays – the output is calculated directly from the input through
feed-forward connections. According to [36], dynamic neural net-
works are generally more powerful than static networks and have
memory that can remember the past values and states of the
network.
In order to illustrate advantages of dynamic neural networks
over static neural networks, a comparison between prediction per-
 V. Ćirović et al. / Mechatronics 23 (2013) 135–146 139

Fig. 3. Comparison between static and dynamic networks’ prediction performance.

Fig. 4. The wheel slip neural network control.

formance of two networks (one static and one dynamic) trained
with two different learning algorithms is shown in Fig. 3. These
networks have the same structure (thee inputs and one output,
one hidden layer with ten neurons, the ‘‘tansig’’ transfer function
between network layers). Also, they have been trained under the
same conditions (training stop at 700 epochs, 33013 input/output
data pairs, learning rate 0.2). Initial input delay of dynamic
neural networks was 0.1 s. Firstly, networks were trained with
Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm (Fig. 3a), and then with Bayesian
Regularization algorithm (Fig. 3b). After that, they have been tested
to predict the brake actuation pressure change during the chosen
braking cycle versus dynamic changes of the wheel slip, wheel
speed and the brake interface temperature. Regarding the real
pressure change, in both cases (see Fig. 3) the superiority of dy-
namic neural networks is obvious. Pressure predictions done with
static networks are evidently poor. On the contrary, dynamic
neural networks have shown well generalization capabilities of
pressure change during this braking cycle (see Fig. 3).
The output of the dynamic network depends not only on the
current input values but also on the previous inputs, outputs or
states of the network [36]. In general, dynamic neural networks
can be divided into two types: (i) feed-forward time-delay
networks, and (ii) feedback or recurrent networks [37,38]. The net-
work function is largely determined by the interconnections be-
tween neurons (connection weights). According to [16], a
dynamic network output is differently affected by weights. Two
different effects could be considered: (i) direct effect (a change in
the weight causes an immediate change in the output at the cur-
rent time step), and (ii) indirect effect (implies using of dynamic
backpropagation to compute the gradients, which is more compu-
tationally intensive). Recurrent networks are built in such a way
that the outputs of some neurons are fed back to the same neurons
or to neurons in the preceding layers. They have an intrinsic dy-
namic memory such that their outputs at a given instant reflect
the current input as well as previous inputs and outputs that are
gradually quenched. This feature makes recurrent networks partic-
ularly suitable for application to dynamic systems [39].
Adjusting of the brake actuation pressure to achieve desired
wheel slip has been done in this paper by designing of a new intel-
ligent control configuration shown in Fig. 4. Since many types of
neural network control methods exist, as it is detailed discussed
in [40], the supervised control and the direct inverse control have
been researched in this paper and combined in a feedback loop.
This means that the control configuration, shown in Fig. 4, includes
supervised control modified in such way that an inverse dynamic
neural model of the tire/road interaction has been used. The main
components of the intelligent control configuration are the dy-
namic inverse neural network model (Dynamic ANN Model) and
the dynamic neural network controller (ANN Controller), see Fig. 4.
The ANN controller shown in Fig. 4 has been designed for intel-
ligent adjusting of brake actuated pressure during a braking cycle
to ensure achieving of desired/optimum a wheel slip level. It con-
140 V. Ćirović et al. / Mechatronics 23 (2013) 135–146
tinuously suggests pressure with which the brake should be ap-
plied in order to achieve desired level of wheel slip. Its neural net-
work has the same structure as a network of the inverse dynamic
neural model. This enables a continuous transfer of the weight ma-
trix (adjusted in previous time step) from the inverse dynamic
ANN model to the ANN controller. The neural controller in every
time step has dynamically updated weights, provided by the in-
verse neural model, which makes him ready to deal with a dy-
namic change of desired wheel slip, speed and temperature, and
to perform good and stable predictions in a long time interval
and within a whole disc brake operating range (see Fig. 4). In this
paper, the nonlinear autoregressive network with exogenous in-
puts, known as NARX network [36,37,39], has been used in the
controller. This type of network architecture is a part of recurrent
dynamic networks with feedback connections enclosing several
layers of the network. The NARX model is based on the linear
ARX model, which is commonly used in time-series modeling
[39]. The stochastic NARX (p, r) model equation is given by
equation: Xðk þ 1Þ ¼ f ½XðkÞ; . . . ; Xðk  p þ 1Þ; Vðk þ 1Þ; uðkÞ; . . . ;
uðk  r þ 1Þ, according to [36]. Regression order is p for the state
and r for the control. An input of the network is made of the signal
values from time k to time k  p + 1 and of the control values from
time k to time k  r + 1. In that case, p is the order of model with
respect to the state and r is the order of the model with respect
to the control. The estimation is based on the minimization of
the modeling error, i.e. the difference between the output of the
process x(k + 1) and the prediction g(k + 1) that has been produced
by the model. The training is a set of input vectors of the type
xk = [x(k); . . . ; x(k  p + 1); u(k); . . . ;u(k  r + 1)] and of associated
output scalars of the type gk = x(k + 1).
The NARX neural network of the controller is firstly trained in
offline mode. The input delay of the wheel slip, speed and the brake
interface temperature during training process of neural networks
was 0.1 s. Since the proper combination of a neural network’s
architecture and a learning algorithm are unknown in advance,
several recurrent network architectures with one and two hidden
layers have been investigated, containing various numbers of neu-
rons. Larger numbers of neurons in the hidden layer give the net-
work more flexibility because the network has more parameters
that can be optimized. The neural networks have been trained by
three gradient-based learning algorithms: Levenberg–Marquardt,
Bayesian Regularization, and Resilient Backpropagation. As a trans-
fer function between the input and hidden layer, as well as be-
tween the hidden layers, sigmoid based function has been used.
The best generalization capabilities in offline training mode
showed the network with one hidden layer with ten neurons.
The dynamic ANN model has been developed to approximate
the inverse feedforward dynamics of the brake performance to-
gether with processes occurring at the tire/road interaction. It is
set to run ten times faster than the ANN controller, therefore
ensuring the achievement of well adjusted weight coefficients. Be-
sides, it has a task to perform continuous online learning, i.e.
adapting to every new braking situation by continuous adjusting
of its weight coefficients, which determine connection strength be-
tween neurons. This means calculation of an error signal, which is
used to adjust the weights online. If a large disturbance or uncer-
tainty occurs in the process, the large error signal is fed back into
the ANN and this adjusts the weights so the system remains stable
[40]. Based on adjusted weight coefficients between neurons, the
developed dynamic neural network model stores the knowledge
about the modeled process, i.e. about the influence between the
pressure, speed, temperature, and a wheel slip. Due to nonlinear
dynamics of the braking process, it is therefore very important
for the ANN controller to have an updated matrix of network
weights. This inverse dynamic neural model is based on dynamic
feedforward time-delay neural network with one hidden layer con-
taining ten neurons. This neural network corresponds to adaptive
Generalized Multi Layer Perceptron (GMLP) according to [41]. It
is essentially a two-layered sigmoid neural network in which the
usual sigmoid base function is replaced by a more flexible function,
see the following expression:
UL
f ðsÞ ¼ L þ ð3Þ
1 þ expðs=TÞ
where s is the input to the function, L is the lower limit, U is the
upper limit, and T is the slope. In the case of L = 0, U = 1 and T = 1
the function reduces to the usual sigmoid function. As it was found
in [41–43], an extended gradient rule, structured according to the
backpropagation algorithm is used to update the network parame-
ters. At any given time t, if x(t) is the input/output vector, then the
ith element of the output vector at the hidden/output layer can be
defined by the following expression:
Uhði; tÞ  Lhði; tÞ
zði; tÞ ¼ Lhði; tÞ þ ð4Þ
1 þ expððVði; tÞxðtÞ þ Pv ði; tÞ=Thði; tÞÞÞ
where Lh(i, t), Uh(i, t) and Th(i, t) are the ith element of the lower lim-
it, upper limit and slope vectors, respectively. V(i, t) is the ith row of
the weight matrix and Pv(i, t) is the ith element of the threshold vec-
tor. According to [42], brief explanation about mentioned extended
gradient rule and updating of neural network states is given by state
equation, i.e. learning algorithm: X(t + T) = X(t) + g(dys/dX)e(t) + Z(t),
where e(t) = y(t)  ys(t) is the error vector at time t, and the vector
X(t) contains the first Nh(Ni + No) + 4(No + Nh) neural network states
presented by column vector. In this equation Ni is the number of in-
puts, Nh is the number of neurons in the hidden layer and No is the
number of outputs. In the equation above g represents the learning
rate, dys/dX is the Jacobian matrix, T is the sampling time, and Z(t)
represents an additional contribution from a filtered error.
According to Fig. 4, the dynamic ANN model has three inputs. It
has been developed based on data related to operation of the disc
brake mounted on the front axle of the vehicle, in synergy with the
dynamic behavior of the tire–road contact of the corresponding
wheel. The first input is the input vector to the neural network
(real wheel slip, brake interface temperature and tangential wheel
speed). As in the controller’s case, the input delay of the wheel slip,
speed and temperature during training process of neural networks
was 0.1 s. Thus, past values of input parameters, carrying informa-
tion about their dynamic changes, have been considered. The sec-
ond input is the error signal between the pressure with which the
brake should be applied and the network approximation (model
prediction, i.e. predicted pressure), which is fed back into the mod-
el and used for adjusting the network weights. The weights are up-
dated using the steepest descent gradient algorithm [40,41], which
minimizes the square error between measurements and estimates.
The third input is a logic (Boolean) signal (LE) that enables/disables
the learning. If LE = 1 then learning of the network is enabled,
while in the case of LE = 0 the learning is disabled. The learning en-
able was set such that when the error signal is less or equal to
0.1 bar learning of the model is disabled, i.e. the weights were
not adjusted. This means that online learning takes place only
when error signal exceeds 0.1 bar, therefore ensuring minimum
controller drift. If the error signal used for training exceeds the pre-
defined threshold, the network weights will be then finely tuned to
adapt to a new braking situation. Appropriate setting of the net-
work’s learning rate also has a crucial importance. Its excessive
values ensure better network learning performance, but also high-
er changes of actual weight coefficients. This implies continuous
adaptation of the network to the new conditions and may cause
the network to become better suited for certain operation condi-
tions than for other. Selecting of a lower learning rate values for
this kind of network, once it becomes well trained to cover the
 V. Ćirović et al. / Mechatronics 23 (2013) 135–146
whole operating range, ensures smaller increments of weights
change. The network will be then less sensitive to new braking
conditions, but the previous knowledge will not be lost since the
network learns only when large disturbance in prediction occurs.
However, the main advantage lies in fact that every new brake
application now could be used for adaptive training of the inverse
dynamic neural model.
4. Results and discussion
Since, the main objective was to keep the wheel slip ratio on the
desired/optimum level during a braking cycle, in this section the
neural model has been tested and used for the wheel slip control
in different braking situations. Simulations of the control system
operation were carried out using the Matlab/Simulink program
package. The neural model has been firstly tested under real the
brake/wheel operation conditions. The results shown in Figs. 5
and 6, illustrate the neural model capabilities to predict change
of the brake actuation pressure for known (real) changes of the
wheel slip, tangential wheel speed, and the brake interface temper-
ature during a braking cycle. Fig. 5 shows comparison between the
real and predicted change of the brake actuation pressure for the
same inputs obtained in a braking cycle (the brake interface tem-
perature was 231 °C; the wheel speed decreases from 69 to
42 km/h). In this case, according to Fig. 4, the inputs related to
the desired the wheel slip, speed and temperature were the real
ones. It is done in order to test the neural model abilities to predict
change of the brake actuation pressure on the level that was mea-
sured during the vehicle testing. Regarding the identified dynamic
adhesion–slip curve for this braking condition, embedded in Fig. 5,
the maximum adhesion coefficient was obtained for the wheel slip
between 8% and 10%. The value of brake actuated pressure ad-
justed by the ANN controller has been compared to the real one.
The dynamic neural controller recognized the influence of pres-
sure–speed–temperature change on the wheel slip ratio at the
tire/road contact. Simultaneously, an online learning of the dy-
namic neural model was performed to ensure better performance
of the neural controller in predicting the brake actuation pressure
when this or similar situation takes place again. The ANN control-
ler adjusted the pressure change, based on network weights trans-
ferred from the dynamic neural model, with selected neural
model’s learning rate of 0.009. For higher learning rate values,
Fig. 5. Comparison between the real and predicted the brake actuation pressure (unladen vehicle)-a case without ABS intervention.
141
the ANN model could achieve better prediction performance, but
the pressure could not have such smooth change due to model’s
higher sensitivity to change of input parameters. For all braking cy-
cles presented here, the pressure was dynamically adjusted with
delay of 0.1 s thus enabling continuous control of the brake perfor-
mance according to a driver’s demands and the wheel slip ratio at
the contact of tire and road surface.
Since the wheel slip control is essentially important issue
regarding commercial vehicles, especially in laden vehicle condi-
tions and with activating brakes with high pressures near maxi-
mum possible level, a special attention was directed to such
braking condition where ABS intervention occurred. Testing of
the neural model, i.e. neural controller performance, which is
based on the neural model prediction capabilities, in such braking
conditions is very important from the point of ABS (EBS) operation
improving. For braking condition illustrated in Fig. 6, where the
brake interface temperature was 135 °C and the wheel speed de-
creased from 61 km/h to 19 km/h, the wheel slip has been rapidly
increased at the end of braking. This is due to actual EBS system
setup which disables ABS function as the vehicle speed approaches
or falls below 15 and 20 km/h. The dynamic neural controller well
learned influence of the brake actuated pressure versus the wheel
slip change (see Fig. 6). These results indicate that the control sys-
tem has enough flexibility to adapt its performance according to
the change of the brake operating regimes, different driver’s de-
mands, vehicle load condition and the current state at the contact
between the tire and road surface.
After testing of the neural network control system to predict the
brake actuation pressure versus change of the known wheel slip, in
synergy with change of the speed and the brake interface temper-
ature, the control system was tested for the case when the wanted
wheel slip was set on the level which provides the maximum adhe-
sion in the tire/road contact. The proposed control system should
maintain the wheel slip on the specified level during a braking cy-
cle. In order to test the control system abilities to adjust the brake
actuation pressure, where the real wheel slip deviates slightly from
the optimum zone that ensures achieving of maximum adhesion,
two different braking cycles have been analyzed (see Figs. 7 and
8). According to Fig. 7, the wanted wheel slip has been set on the
level between 5% and 8%. The neural controller has been employed
to predict the brake actuation pressure that would provide the
specified level of the wheel slip in the braking cycle.
142 V. Ćirović et al. / Mechatronics 23 (2013) 135–146

Fig. 6. Comparison between the real and predicted the brake actuation pressure (laden vehicle)-a case with ABS intervention.

Fig. 7. An example – intelligent control of the longitudinal wheel slip (unladen vehicle).

The wheel speed has been decreased from 82 to 32 km/h and
the mean maximum value of the brake interface temperature
was 96 °C. For this braking condition, corresponding adhesion–slip
curve is embedded in the graph. It is showing that the wheel slip,
where maximum adhesion coefficient could be obtained, was be-
tween 5% and 8%. The controller is tested to adjust the pressure
such that desired wheel slip change is obtained. Results show that,
based on learned a functional correlation between the pressure,
the speed, the temperature, the wheel slip in a braking cycle, and
identified position of adhesion–slip curve peak, the controller is
capable to adjust the pressure such that wheel slip remains within
desired range, see Fig. 7. The controller has shown well prediction
 V. Ćirović et al. / Mechatronics 23 (2013) 135–146
Fig. 8. An example – intelligent longitudinal control of the wheel slip (laden vehicle).
sensitivity versus synergistic effect of the pressure – wheel speed
change during a braking cycle versus small deviation between
the real and desired the wheel slip. For instance, the brake actua-
tion pressure has been increased on 3 bar in 1s from the start of
braking when the wheel slip reached the value where maximum
tire/road adhesion has been achieved. After that, the controller de-
creased the pressure and kept the pressure on almost constant le-
vel (2.5 bar) during the next 1.5 s. When the angular deceleration
of the wheel started to arise again and reached maximum values
between 2 and 2.5 s, the controller decreased pressure on 1.6 bar.
Further decreasing of pressure that the controller suggests is influ-
enced by smaller gradient of the wheel speed decreasing and
slightly increasing trend of the wheel slip. The angular deceleration
of the wheel is getting smaller to the end of braking cycle, and that
is why the controller appropriately decreased the pressure to zero.
In general, the controller’s abilities to intelligently adjust pressure
according to the current maximum of adhesion coefficient that is
available and desired wheel slip in the tire/road contact are on
the acceptable level.
In the case of braking cycle shown in Fig. 8, performed with la-
den vehicle, the wheel slip varies within the range between 2% and
14% while the wheel speed changes between 85 and 47 km/h. The
brake interface temperature was 381 °C. Adhesion–slip curve
shows that the region of the longitudinal wheel slip where adhe-
sion coefficient is maximized is between 8% and 11%. From Fig. 8
it can be seen that the maximum adhesion potential was reached
between 4.3 and 6 s of braking time, where the wheel vertical load
is also maximized as a result of increasing of the brake actuation
pressure initiated by a driver. Until 4.3 of braking time, adhesion
has been kept on the lower limit of 8%, the controller also increased
the pressure from 1.5 bar to 2.5 bar in order to achieve the upper
143
limits of the optimum adhesion between the tire and road. Based
on the real wheel slip, speed and temperature changes, the control-
ler recognized this potential and dynamically adjusted (increased)
pressure in this segment of the braking cycle such that wheel slip
remains between desired limits. It is evident on both Figs. 7 and 8,
that decreasing of the wheel speed at the end of braking differently
affecting the wheel slip, i.e. the wheel slip has been increased. This
needs adjusting of the brake actuation pressure, i.e. its decreasing.
It caused slight increasing of the wheel slip over the selected/
wanted region at the end of braking (see Fig. 7), but in the case
shown in Fig. 8 the controller has decreased the brake pressure
on corresponding level.
Another two braking situations have been analyzed in order to
illustrate braking situations where the real wheel slip is more dis-
torted from the zone which corresponds to the maximum adhesion
level (see Figs. 9 and 10). From Fig. 9 can be seen that wanted the
wheel slip has been set on the level between 14% and 21%, where
position of the adhesion–slip curve peak is identified. The wheel
speed has been decreased from 73 to 42 km/h and the mean max-
imum value of the brake interface temperature was 398 °C. The
controller adjusted the brake actuation pressure such that wheel
slip remains within desired range (see Fig. 9). The brake actuation
pressure has been increased on 1.5 bar during the first 0.8 s of
braking cycle to bring the wheel slip between the specified limits
(14–21%). During the next 0.5 s, the controller maintained the
pressure on that level (1.5 bar). Between 1.3 and 3 s, the controller
increased pressure on 2 bar to keep the wheel slip in the specified
zone, taking into consideration the increasing tendency of wheel
angular deceleration and increasing of the wheel load on the front
axle. Further slight decreasing of the brake actuation pressure done
by the controller is result of the real wheel slip change. Compared
144 V. Ćirović et al. / Mechatronics 23 (2013) 135–146

Fig. 9. An example – intelligent longitudinal control of the wheel slip (unladen vehicle).

Fig. 10. An example – intelligent longitudinal control of the wheel slip (laden vehicle).
 V. Ćirović et al. / Mechatronics 23 (2013) 135–146
to the real actuation pressure (representing the conventional con-
trol), the controller increased the actuation pressure for approxi-
mately 0.3 bar during the first 3.5 s, and also decreased the
pressure during the rest of braking. After 4.4 s, the angular deceler-
ation of the wheel is getting smaller to the end of braking cycle and
real wheel slip leaves the specified range, and that is why the con-
troller appropriately decreased the pressure. Regarding the real
actuation pressure, gradient of pressure decreasing is higher in or-
der to maintain the wheel slip within desired limits, see Fig. 9.
Regarding Fig. 10, the range of wheel slip, where maximum
adhesion is available, is between 13% and 19%. The wheel speed de-
creases from 77 to 27 km/h. The brake interface temperature was
415 °C. Until 1.2 s of a braking cycle, the controller increased brake
actuation pressure in comparison to the real one for about 0.7 bar.
Between 1.2 and 1.4 s, the controller decreased actuation pressure
for 0.5 bar, since the wheel slip shows an increasing tendency. It
furthermore decreased the pressure to keep the wheel slip be-
tween desired limits, taking into account decreasing tendency of
the wheel angular deceleration. Slightly increasing of the wheel
angular deceleration between 1.7 and 2.6 s influenced the control-
ler to dynamically adjust (increase) the actuation pressure in this
segment of the braking cycle. As it can be seen, this pressure is
lower than the real one because the real wheel slip has had an
increasing tendency. Constantly increasing of the wheel slip, dur-
ing the rest part of the braking cycle, caused decreasing of the pres-
sure adjusted by the neural controller versus pressure adjusted by
conventional control. The reason for that is related to maintaining
of the wheel slip on corresponding level that could offer maximum
braking effectiveness.
5. Conclusions
Improvement of the braking system performance and its har-
monization with the tire–road contact situation is extremely
important. In this paper the new approach has been introduced
in order to keep the wheel slip in the optimal limits during braking.
The dynamic neural networks, has been employed for improving of
the longitudinal wheel slip control. The new dynamic neural model
has been developed able to model and predict the complex func-
tional relationship between the brake actuation pressure and the
wheel slip under different braking conditions and the vehicle load
states. Based on such developed the neural model, dynamic adap-
tation of the brake actuation pressure according to the identified
maximum adhesion coefficient between the wheel and road has
been provided during a braking cycle. It was shown that the brake
actuation pressure could be adjusted on the level which provides
the optimal longitudinal wheel slip versus the brake actuation
pressure selected by a driver, the current vehicle speed, load con-
ditions, the brake interface temperature and the current value of
the wheel slip. The results proposed in this paper confirm that
the wheel slip change in the contact between the tire and road sur-
face could be better controlled while EBS operates. This means that
intelligent abilities of electronically controlled braking systems
could be introduced through introduction of the new intelligent
control of the brake actuation pressure and its adjustment accord-
ing to the change of tire–road adhesion conditions.
In this paper, an intelligent adaptive braking strategy for better
the wheel slip control in the longitudinal direction has been pro-
posed. The results show that dynamic neural networks could be
employed for increasing of the vehicle safety while braking by
improving of the vehicle stability and keeping the wheel slip ratio
at desired level. It is shown how the longitudinal wheel slip could
be controlled more intelligently while the EBS (ABS) operates, in
order to achieve desired level of wheel slip over different brake
operating conditions, for the specific road surface conditions and
145
vehicle load state. Furthermore, the current ABS operation could
be improved by introduction the new intelligent system for moni-
toring of the braking system-tire/road performance, learning this
complex relationship and an intelligent adjustment of the brake
actuation pressure according the previous and current adhesion
tire/road conditions. Here proposed an intelligent the wheel slip
control offers possibilities for better predictive controlling of EBS
system operation, as well as its integrated ABS function, versus
wheel slip ratio at the tire/road contact, simultaneously providing
higher level of vehicle active safety.
Acknowledgements
Authors gratefully acknowledge to Serbian Ministry of Educa-
tion and Science for financial support of this research through
the Project Nos. TR35045 and TR35030.
References
[1] Grip HF, Imsland L, Johansen TA, Fossen TI, Kalkkuhl JC, Suissa A. Nonlinear
vehicle side-slip estimation with friction adaptation. Automatica
2008;44:611–22.
[2] Papelis YE, Watson GS, Brown TL. An empirical study of the effectiveness of
electronic stability control system in reducing loss of vehicle control. Accid
Anal Prev 2010;42:929–34.
[3] Du H, Zhang N, Naghdy F. Velocity-dependent robust control for improving
vehicle lateral dynamics. Transport Res Part C: Emerg Technol
2011;19:454–68.
[4] Ćirović V, Aleksendrić D, Mladenović D. Braking torque control using recurrent
neural networks. Proc Inst Mech Eng, Part D: J Automob Eng 2012;226:754–66.
[5] Ćirović V, Aleksendrić D. Dynamic modelling of disc brake contact phenomena.
FME Trans 2011:177–83.
[6] Chun K, Sunwoo M. Wheel slip tracking using moving sliding surface. Proc Inst
Mech Eng, Part D: J Automob Eng 2005;219:31–41.
[7] Poursamad A. Adaptive feedback linearization control of antilock braking
systems using neural networks. Mechatronics 2009;19:767–73.
[8] Bang MS, Lee SH, Han CS, Maciuca DB, Hedrick JK. Performance enhancement
of a sliding mode wheel slip controller by the yaw moment control. Proc Inst
Mech Eng, Part D: J Automob Eng 2001;215:455–68.
[9] Topalov AV, Oniz Y, Kayacan E, Kaynak O. Neuro-fuzzy control of antilock
braking system using sliding mode incremental learning algorithm.
Neurocomputing 2011;74:1883–93.
[10] Cheli F, Concas A, Giangiulio E, Sabbioni E. A simplified ABS numerical model:
comparison with HIL and full scale experimental tests. Comput Struct
2008;86:1494–502.
[11] Sedighizadeh M, Rezaei M, Najmi V. A predictive control based on neural
network for proton exchange membrane fuel cell. World Acad Sci, Eng Technol
2011;74:461–5.
[12] Ivanov V, Shyrokau B, Augsburg K, Algin V. Fuzzy evaluation of tire–surface
interaction parameters. J Terrramech 2010;47:113–30.
[13] Wu M, Shih M. Simulated and experimental study of hydraulic anti-lock
braking system using sliding-mode PWM control. Mechatronics
2003;13:331–51.
[14] Zheng S, Tang H, Han Z, Zhang Y. Controller design for vehicle stability
enhancement. Control Eng Pract 2006;14:1413–21.
[15] Kim HM, Park SH, Han SI. Precise friction control for the nonlinear friction
system using the friction state observer and sliding mode control with
recurrent fuzzy neural networks. Mechatronics 2009;19:805–15.
[16] Han SI, Lee KS. Robust friction state observer and recurrent fuzzy neural
network design for dynamic friction compensation with backstepping control.
Mechatronics 2010;20:384–401.
[17] Merzouki R, Ould-Bouamama B, Djeziri MA, Bouteldja M. Modelling and
estimation of tire–road longitudinal impact efforts using bond graph approach.
Mechatronics 2007;17:93–108.
[18] Chikhi R, El Hadri A, Cadiou JC. Optimal control for anti-braking system. In:
Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE international symposium on intelligent control;
2005. p. 581–85.
[19] Matusko J, Petrovic I, Peric N. Neural network based tire/road friction force
estimation. Eng Appl Artif Intell 2008;21:442–56.
[20] EBS electronically controlled brake system, system and functional description.
2nd ed. Wabco; 2007.
[21] Aleksendrić D. Intelligent control of commercial vehicles braking system
function. In: FISITA 2006 world automotive congress, F2006-SC-032,
Yokohama, Japan.
[22] Tanelli M, Piroddi L, Piuri M, Savaresi SM. Real-time identification of tire–road
friction conditions. IEEE Int Conf Contr Appl 2008:25–30.
[23] Savaresi SM, Tanelli M. Active braking control system design for vehicles. 1st
ed. Springer-Verlag; 2010.
[24] Savaresi SM, Tanelli M, Langthaler P, Del Re L. Estimation of X–Z tire contact
force via embedded accelerometers. Tire Technol Int Rev 2006:74–8.
146 V. Ćirović et al. / Mechatronics 23 (2013) 135–146
[25] Savaresi SM, Tanelli M, Cantoni C. Mixed slip-deceleration control in
automotive braking systems. ASME J Dyn Syst, Meas Contr 2007;129:20–31.
[26] Tanelli M, Osorio G, di Bernardo M, Savaresi SM, Astolfi A. Existence, stability
and robustness analysis of limit cycles in hybrid anti-lock braking systems. Int
J Contr 2009;82:659–78.
[27] Petersen I. Wheel slip control in ABS brakes using gain scheduled optimal
control with constraints, Doctor Thesis, Norwegian University of Science and
Technology, Trondheim, Norway; 2003.
[28] Pacejka HB. Tire and vehicle dynamics. 2nd ed. SAE International; 2006. p. 642.
[29] Bakker E, Nyborg L, Pacejka H. Tire modelling for use in vehicle dynamics
studies. SAE Technical Paper 870421; 1987. doi:10.4271/870421.
[30] Aleksendrić D, Barton DC. Neural network prediction of disc brake
performance. Tribol Int 2009;42:1074–80.
[31] Aleksendrić D. Neural network prediction of brake friction materials wear.
Wear 2010;268:117–25.
[32] Aleksendrić D, Barton DC, Vasić B. Prediction of brake friction materials
recovery performance using artificial neural networks. Tribol Int
2010;43:2092–9.
[33] Aleksendrić D, Jakovljević Ž, Ćirović V. Intelligent control of braking process.
Exp Syst Appl 2012;39(14):11758–65.
[34] Miljković Z, Aleksendrić D. Artificial neural networks – solved examples with
theoretical background, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering University of
Belgrade (in Serbian); 2009. ISBN: 978-86-7083-685-3.
[35] Gurney K. An introduction to neural networks. University College London
(UCL) Press; 1997. ISBN: 1-85728-673-1.
[36] Pearlmutter BA. Dynamic recurrent neural networks, Technical report CMU-
CS-90-196 Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science; 1990.
[37] Dreyfus G. Neural networks – methodology and applications. Berlin: Springer;
2005.
[38] Benitez VH, Sanchez EN, Loukianov AG. Decentralized adaptive recurrent
neural control structure. Eng Appl Artif Intell 2007;20:1125–32.
[39] Becerikli Y, Konar AF, Samad T. Intelligent optimal control with dynamic
neural networks. Neural Networks 2003;16:251–9.
[40] Callinan T. Artificial neural network identification and control of the inverted
pendulum; 2003.
[41] Campa G. Adaptive neural networks. West Virginia University; 2008.
[42] Sperduti A, Starita A. Speed up learning and network optimization with
extended back propagation. Neural Networks 1993;6:365–83.
[43] Sarkar D. Methods to speed up error back-propagation learning algorithm.
ACM Comput Surv 1995;27:519–44.