Static output-feedback controller design for vehicle suspensions: An effective two-step computational approach

Abstract

In this study, a novel two-step methodology is applied in designing static output-feedback controllers for a class of vehicle suspension systems. Following this approach, an effective synthesis of static output-feedback controllers can be carried out by solving two consecutive linear matrix inequality optimisation problems. To illustrate the main features of the proposed design strategy, two different static output-feedback H∞ controllers are designed for a quarter-car suspension system. The first of those controllers uses the suspension deflection and the sprung mass velocity as feedback information, whereas the second one only requires the sprung mass velocity to compute the control actions. Numerical simulations indicate that, despite the restricted feedback information, the proposed static output-feedback H∞ controllers exhibit a good behaviour in terms of both frequency and time responses, when compared with the corresponding state-feedback H∞ controller.