Road Preview Control for Active Suspension System

The industrialization of the measurement systems of road profiles enabled the deployment of the road preview control strategies for the vehicle-controlled suspensions. This article proposes a new active suspension control strategy in which a model reference controller (MRC) is improved through the road preview capability. The road preview control uses the feed-forward road input signals and the feedback vehicle state signals as controller inputs. A thirteen degree-of-freedom (DOF) full vehicle vertical dynamics model including stabilizer bars is used. Eight proportional integral derivative (PID) controllers for sprung and unsprung masses have been used in the control strategy. The controller parameters including the preview distance have been obtained by using a gradient-based optimization routine with an objective function that includes both ride comfort and road holding. The ride performance of the road preview control strategy is evaluated by using a measured stochastic road profile. The results illustrated the potential of the road preview control strategy to improve the ride performance compared with the MRC without road preview control.