A Novel Coordination Method for an Integrated Chassis Controller of an 8x8 Combat Vehicle

The objective of the Integrated Chassis Controllers (ICC) is to combine multiple actuators and dynamics controllers to maximize the overall vehicle performance at all driving conditions. It is well known that there are two methods that can be used to develop an ICC. The first is a centralized method, where all the actuators are considered in one controller to ensure a harmonic integration between different actuators. The second method is called decentralized integration, where each actuator is considered in a separate controller and a low-level controller is used to coordinate the operation of the controllers. In this paper, the second method is used to develop a decentralized ICC using a novel controller coordinator based on Genetic Programming (GP). The GP is used to integrate torque vectoring and active rear steering controllers of an 8x8 combat vehicle. The controller is utilized to enhance the lateral stability of the vehicle in various driving conditions. The GP-based method showed a drastic reduction in the processing time in comparison to a Neuro-Fuzzy based controller. In addition, the vehicle stability is evaluated in comparison with the uncontrolled vehicle by conducting slalom maneuvers on a dry and slippery road.