Extremum Seeking Methods for Online Automotive Calibration

Abstract

The automotive calibration process is becoming increasingly difficult as the degrees of freedom in modern engines rises with the number of actuators. This is coupled with the desire to utilise alternative fuels to gasoline and diesel for the promise of lower CO2 levels in transportation. However, the range of fuel blends also leads to variability in the combustion properties, requiring additional sensing and calibration effort for the engine control unit (ECU). Shifting some of the calibration effort online whereby the engine controller adjusts its operation to account for the current operating conditions may be an effective alternative if the performance of the controller can be guaranteed within some performance characteristics. This tutorial chapter summarises recent developments in extremum seeking control, and investigates the potential of these methods to address some of the complexity in developing fuel-flexible controllers for automotive powertrains. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.