Development of FLC-Based Antilock Braking System Wheel Slip Control for Half And Quarter Vehicle Models

Abstract

An antilock braking system (ABS) is an essential mechanism that improves the braking system of a vehicle. Different methods were used to design a better controller in order to improve the system. Literature studies had shown that the major technique used in modelling the system is the quarter-vehicle model for uncomplicatedness in the controller design. A half-vehicle model was adapted and will have more dynamic parameters of the overall system as compared to the quarter-vehicle model. In this work a fuzzy logic controller (FLC) for each wheel is designed separately; this is because the frictional force for the front wheel is higher than that of the rear wheel. Using the same vehicle parameters for the half model, another FLC is designed for the quarter model. The performance of the two models was evaluated by comparing the stopping distance of the two models. Simulation results show that the FLC-controlled half-vehicle model performed better than the quarter-vehicle model in terms of stopping distance, which is the critical factor in ABS. Using the same vehicle parameters for both models, simulation results have shown that the percentage reduction in terms of stopping distance has improved by 16.3% for the FLC-controlled half-vehicle model as against that of the FLC-controlled quarter-vehicle model, as well as a 13.8% improvement with the proposed FLC as against the sliding mode controller with disturbance observer. Evaluation results show that the stopping distance of a vehicle with ABS is better with the half-vehicle model and FLC than with the commonly used quarter-vehicle model; this improves safety and can save more lives, as the vehicle has more tendency to stop as compared with the quarter-model design