Development of the active disturbance rejection control method for increasing the stability of the long articulated vehicle

Abstract

Today, with the increasing growth in road traffic, many countries are welcoming long articulated vehicles because of their economic and environmental benefits and the positive effects on the problem of traffic congestion and the reduction in fuel consumption and environmental pollutants. The major problem with such vehicles is poor maneuverability at low speeds and inappropriate lateral performance at high speeds, resulting in accidents and financial losses. Therefore, in order to improve their safety, they need a control system that can improve the performance of the long articulated vehicles. In this article, a 19-degree of freedom dynamic model of the long articulated vehicle has been developed in MATLAB software. This vehicle consists of a tractor and two semi-trailer units. To adjust the articulated vehicle lateral dynamics, a robust control method based on the combination of active disturbance rejection control and back-stepping sliding mode control is introduced. Four control variables such as yaw rate and lateral velocity of the tractor and also first and second articulation angles are regulated by steering the axles of the tractor and two trailers. Furthermore, in order to measure the state variables of the long articulated vehicle, the extended Kalman filter is used. The results of the simulation in high-speed lane change and low-speed steep steer maneuvers indicate the superiority of this method over linear-quadratic regulator and sliding mode controllers. Finally, the robustness of this controller than conventional sliding mode and active disturbance rejection sliding mode controllers have been shown in the presence of noises.