Steer-by-Wire: Implications for Vehicle Handling

and Safety

Paul Yih

May 27, 2004

 What is by-wire?

• Replace mechanical and hydraulic control mechanisms with an

electronic system.
• Technology first appeared in aviation: NASA’s digital fly-by-wire
aircraft (1972).
• Today many civil and most military aircraft rely on fly-by-wire.
• Revolutionized aircraft design due to improved performance and
safety over conventional flight control systems.

Source: USAF Source: Boeing

Source: NASA
Source: NASA
 Automotive applications for by-wire
• By-wire technology later
adapted to automobiles:
throttle-by-wire and brake-by-
wire.
• Steer-by-wire poses a more
significant leap from
conventional automotive
systems and is still several
years away.
• Just as fly-by-wire did to
aircraft, steer-by-wire
promises to significantly
improve vehicle handling and
driving safety.
Source: Motorola
 Outline

• Introduction
– Car as a dynamic system
– Tire properties
– Basic handling characteristics and stability
• Vehicle control
• Estimation
• Conclusion and future work

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Why do accidents occur?

• 42% of fatal crashes result from

loss of control (European
Accident Causation Survey,
2001).
• In most conditions, a vehicle
under proper control is very safe.
• However, every vehicle has
thresholds beyond which control
becomes extremely difficult.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 The car as a dynamic system

• Assume constant
longitudinal speed, V,
so only lateral forces.
• Yaw rate, r, and sideslip
angle, b, completely
describe vehicle motion
in plane.
• Force and mass
balance:
m  a y  Fy , f  cos   Fy ,r
I z  r  a  Fy , f  cos   b  Fy ,r

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Linear and nonlinear tire characteristics

• Lateral forces are

generated by tire “slip.”

Fy  Caa
• Ca is called tire cornering
stiffness.
• At large slip angles, lateral
force approaches friction
limits.
• Relation to slip angle
becomes nonlinear near
this limit.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Linearized vehicle model

• Equations of motion:


b 



 Ca , f Car
mV 1  Ca ,r b Ca , f a
mV 2  b    Ca , f
mV


  Ca ,r b Ca , f a Ca , f a Ca ,r b 2
2
  Ca , f a
 
   Iz
r I zV
  r   Iz 

• Valid even when tires

operating in nonlinear
region by approximating
nonlinear effects of the tire
curve.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

Handling characteristics determined by physical
properties

• Define understeer gradient:

Wf Wr
K us  
Ca , f Ca ,r
• A car can have one of three characteristics:

understeering neutral steering oversteering

+ Kus -
less responsive more responsive

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Understeering

• Negative real roots at low

speed.
• As speed increases, poles
move off real axis.
• Understeering vehicle is
always stable, but yaw
becomes oscillatory at higher
speed.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Oversteering

• Negative real roots at low

speed.
• As speed increases, one pole
moves into right half plane.
• At higher speed, oversteering
vehicle becomes unstable!
• Analogy to unstable aircraft: the
more oversteering a vehicle is,
the more responsive it will be.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Neutral steering

• Single negative real root due

to pole zero cancellation.
• Always stable with first order
response.
• This is the ideal handling
case.
• Not practical to design this
way: small changes in
operating conditions
(passengers or cargo, tire
wear) can make it
oversteering.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Real world example: 15 passenger van
rollovers

• Full load of passengers shifts weight distribution rearward.

• Vehicle becomes oversteering, unstable while still in linear
handling region.
• Full load also raised center of gravity height, contributing to
rollover.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 How are vehicles designed?
• Most vehicles designed to be understeering (by tire selection,
weight distribution, suspension kinematics).
– Provides safety margin.
– Compromises responsiveness.

• What if we could arbitrarily change handling characteristics?

– Don’t need such a wide safety margin.
– Can make vehicle responsive without crossing over to
instability.

• Can in fact do this with combination of steer-by-wire and state

feedback!

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Prior art
• Active steering has been demonstrated using yaw rate and
lateral acceleration feedback (Ackermann et al. 1999, Segawa
et al. 2000).
• Yaw rate alone not always enough (vehicle can have safe yaw
rate but be skidding sideways).
• Many have proposed sideslip feedback for active steering in
theory (Higuchi et al. 1992, Nagai et al. 1996, Lee 1997, Ono et
al. 1998).
• Electronic stability control uses sideslip rate feedback to
intervene with braking when vehicle near the limits (van Zanten
2002).
• No published results for smooth, continuous handling control
during normal driving.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Research contributions
• An approach for precise by-wire steering control taking into
account steering system dynamics and tire forces.
– Techniques apply to steer-by-wire design in general.

• The application of active steering capability and full state

feedback to virtually and fundamentally modify a vehicle’s
handling characteristics.
– Never done before due to difficulty in obtaining accurate sideslip
measurement, and
– There just aren’t that many steer-by-wire cars around.

• The development and implementation of a vehicle sideslip

observer based on steering forces.
– Two-observer structure combines steering system and vehicle
dynamics the way they are naturally linked.
– Solve the problem of sideslip estimation.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Outline

• Steering system: precise steering control

– Conversion to steer-by-wire
– System identification
– Steering control design
• Vehicle control
• Estimation
• Conclusion and future work

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Conventional steering system

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Conversion to steer-by-wire

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Steer-by-wire actuator

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Steer-by-wire sensors

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Force feedback system

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 System identification

• Open loop transfer function.

( s ) 1
G ( s)  
M ( s) J s s 2  bs s

• Closed loop transfer function.

( s ) KG( s )

 d ( s ) 1  KG( s )

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Closed loop experimental response

test_11_13_pb

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Bode plot fitted to ETFE

test_11_13_pb

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 System identification

• Bode plot confirms system to be second order.

• Obtain natural frequency and damping ratio from Bode plot.
• Solve for moment of inertia and damping constant.

( s) K n 2
 
d ( s) J s s 2  bs s  K s 2  2n s  n 2

• Adjust for Coulomb friction.

J s  bs  Fs sgn    M

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Identified response with friction

test_11_13_pb

• Not perfect, but we have feedback.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 What do you need in a controller?

• Actual steer angle should

track commanded angle with
minimal error.
• Initially consider no tire-to-
ground contact.

M actuator torque
d commanded angle (at handwheel)
 actual angle (at pinion)
Js effective moment of inertia
bs effective damping

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Feedback control only
 M   feedback
 feedback  K p  d    Kd d 

test_12_3_b0_j0

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Feedback with feedforward compensation
 M   feedback   feedforward
 feedforward  Jd  bd

test_12_3_b0_j0

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Feedforward and friction compensation
 M   feedback   feedforward   friction
 friction  Fc sgn d 

test_12_3_b0_j0

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Vehicle on ground
 M   feedback   feedforward   friction
(Same controller as before)

test_12_3_b0_j0

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Aligning moment due to mechanical trail
• Part of aligning moment from the wheel caster angle.
• Offset between intersection of steering axis with ground and
center of tire contact patch.
• Lateral force acting on contact patch generates moment about
steer axis (against direction of steering).

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Aligning moment due to pneumatic trail

• Other part from tire deformation during cornering.

• Point of application of resultant force occurs behind center of
contact patch.
• Pneumatic trail also contributes to moment about steer axis
(usually against direction of steering).

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Controller with aligning moment correction
 M   feedback   feedforward   friction   aligning
 aligning  K aˆa

test_12_3_b0_j0

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 From steering to vehicle control
• Disturbance force acting on steering system causes tracking
error.
• Simply increasing feedback gains may result in instability.
• Since we have an idea where the disturbance comes from, we
can cancel it out.

• We now have precise active steering control via steer-by-wire

system…what can we do with it?

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Outline
• Steering system: precise steering control
– Conversion to steer-by-wire
– System identification
– Steering control design
• Vehicle control: infinitely variable handling characteristics
– Handling modification
– Experimental results
• Estimation
• Conclusion and future work

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Active steering concept

• One of the main benefits of steer-by-wire over conventional

steering mechanisms is active steering capability.
• For a conventional steering system, road wheel angle has a
direct correspondence to driver command at the steering wheel.

command angle steer angle

environment conventional
driver steering system vehicle

vehicle states

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Active steering concept

• For an active steering system, actual steer angle can be

different from driver command angle to either alter driver’s
perception of vehicle handling or to maintain control during
extreme maneuvers.

command angle steer angle

environment active
driver controller system vehicle

vehicle states

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Physically motivated handling modification

• Automotive racing example: driver makes pit stop to change

tires.
• Virtual tire change: effectively alter front cornering stiffness
through feedback.
• Full state feedback control law: steer angle is linear combination
of states and driver command angle.

  Kr r  Kb b  Kd d
• Obtain sideslip from GPS/INS system (Ryu’s PhD work).

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Physically motivated handling modification

• Define new cornering stiffness as:

Cˆaf  Caf 1   
• Choose feedback gains as:
a
K b   K r    K d  (1   )
V
• Vehicle state equation is now:

 bCG 
  


Cˆaf Car
mV 1 Car b Cˆaf a
mV 2

  b   Cˆaf 
  CG    CmV
ˆ a  d
Car b Cˆaf a Cˆaf a 2 Car b 2
 r   I z
 I zV
  r   Iazf 


introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Experimental testing at Moffett Field

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Unmodified handling: model vs. experiment

mo_1_3_eta0_d

• Confirms model parameters match vehicle parameters.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

Experiment: normal vs. reduced front cornering
stiffness

mo_1_3_a05u_b

• Difference between normal and reduced cornering stiffness.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Reduced front cornering stiffness: model vs.
experiment

mo_1_3_a05u_b

• Understeer characteristic in yaw exactly as predicted.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Unmodified handling: model vs. experiment

mo_1_3_eta0_d

• Verifies sideslip estimation is working.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Reduced front cornering stiffness: model vs.
experiment

mo_1_3_a05u_b

• Understeer characteristic in sideslip as predicted.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Modified handling: unloaded vs. rear weight
bias

mo_2_3_eta02u_w_b

• Reducing front cornering stiffness returns vehicle to unloaded

characteristic.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 From control to estimation

• We need accurate, clean feedback of sideslip angle to smoothly

modify a vehicle’s handling characteristics.

• Can we do this without GPS?

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Outline
• Steering system: precise steering control
– Conversion to steer-by-wire
– System identification
– Steering control design
• Vehicle control: infinitely variable handling characteristics
– Handling modification
– Experimental results
• Estimation: steer-by-wire as an observer
– Steering disturbance observer
– Vehicle state observer
• Conclusion and future work

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Sideslip estimation
• Yaw rate easily measured, but sideslip angle much more difficult
to measure directly.

• Current approaches:
– GPS: loses signal under adverse conditions
– optical ground sensor: very expensive

• Steer-by-wire approach:
– Aligning moment transmits information about the vehicle’s
motion—we canceled it out, remember?
– Can be determined from current applied to the steer-by-wire
actuator.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Steering system dynamics

 road wheel angle J w  bw  Fw   a  rs M

Jw moment of inertia  M  kM iM
bw damping constant
Fw Coulomb friction
a aligning moment
M motor torque
kM motor constant
iM motor current

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Steering system as a disturbance observer

• Express in state space form. Choose steering angle as output

(measured state). Motor current is input. Aligning moment is
disturbance to be estimated.

   
0 1 0   0 
 
   
  
      
bw 1 rs kM  iM

    0 
Jw Jw   Jw 
 a     a   
  0 0 0   0 
 
  1 0 0   
 a 

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Link between aligning moment and sideslip
angle
• Aligning moment can be expressed as function of the vehicle
states, b and r, and the input, .

 a  t p  t m Fy , f

 t p  t m Caf a f

 t p  t m Caf  b    
 ar 
 V 
a t p  t m Caf
 t p  t m Caf b  r  t p  t m Caf 
V

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Vehicle state observer
• Express in state space form. Steering angle is input. Yaw rate
and aligning moment (from the disturbance observer) are outputs
(measurements).

 bCG   mV
 Caf Car
1  Car b Caf a
 b CG 
 Caf

   Car b Caf a  r    Caf a 
mV 2 mV
 Caf a 2 Car b 2
 r   I z I zV
    I z 
r  0 1   b CG   0 
   t  t C a t p  t m Caf    
   
 a   p m af V   r   p m af 
t t C

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Aligning moment and state estimation

• Choose disturbance observer gain T so that A-TC is stable and

xerr=x-xest approaches zero.

xest  Axest  Bu  T  y  yest 

  A  TC xest  Bu  Ty
xerr   A  TC xerr

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Estimated aligning moment

data_012504b

• Not exact, but doesn’t need to be.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Estimated sideslip and yaw rate

data_012504b

• Sideslip estimate from observer is comparable to estimate from

GPS.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

Experiment: normal vs. reduced front cornering
stiffness

mo_041104_stetam3_a

• State feedback from observer: yaw results comparable to using

GPS.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

Experiment: normal vs. reduced front cornering
stiffness

mo_041104_stetam3_a

• Sideslip results also comparable to using GPS.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Conclusion
• Driving safety depends on a vehicle’s underlying handling
characteristics.

• Can make handling characteristics anything we want provided

we have:
– Precise active steering capability
– Full knowledge of vehicle states

• Precise steering control requires understanding of interaction

between tire and road.
– Treated as disturbance to be canceled out.

• Vehicle state estimation uses interaction between tire and road

as source of information.
– Seen by observer as force that govern vehicle’s motion.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Future work

• Adaptive modeling to accommodate nonlinear handling

characteristics.
• Apply knowledge of tire forces to determine where the limits are
and stay below them.
• Bounding uncertainty in observer-based sideslip estimation.
• Apply control and estimation techniques to a dedicated by-wire
vehicle (Nissan project).

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion

 Acknowledgements

• Advisor, Chris Gerdes

• Committee members: Prof. Rock, Prof. Waldron, Prof.
Niemeyer, Chair Enge
• Fellow members of the DDL!
• Stanford Graduate Fellowship
• Staff at Moffett Airfield
• General Motors Corp.
• Nissan Motor Co.

introduction steering system vehicle control estimation conclusion