Design of autonomous cruise controller with linear time varying model

Abstract

Cruise control is a technology for automatically maintaining a steady speed of vehicle as set by the driver via controlling throttle valve and brake of vehicle. In this paper we investigate cruise controller design method with consideration for distance to vehicle ahead. We employ linear time varying (LTV) model to describe longitudinal vehicle dynamic motion. With this LTV system we approximately model the nonlinear dynamics of vehicle speed by frequent update of the system parameters. In addition we reformulate the LTV system by transforming distance to leading vehicle into variation of system parameters of the model. Note that in conventional control problem formulation this distance is considered as disturbance which should be rejected. Consequently a controller can be designed by pole placement at each instance of parameter update, based on the linear model with the present system parameters. The validity of this design method is examined by simulation study.