Fault-Tolerant Control of the Road Wheel Subsystem in a Steer-By-Wire System

Abstract

This paper describes a fault-tolerant steer-by-wire road wheel control system. With dual motor and dual microcontroller architecture, this system has the capability to tolerate single-point failures without degrading the control system performance. The arbitration bus, mechanical arrangement of motors, and the developed control algorithm allow the system to reconfigure itself automatically in the event of a single-point fault, and assure a smooth reconfiguration process. Both simulation and experimental results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed fault-tolerant control system.