Development of a real-time model-based controller for the lateral dynamics of motorcycles

Contact: Francesco Passigato, M. Sc.

Problem Statement

The motorcycle performance has increased in the last years. This leads to anticipated reaching of the motorcycle dynamic limits. Several researches have underlines the great importance of the frame stiffness on handling and stability. However it is almost impossible to obtain the stiffness parameter from the motorcycle sensors. For this reason a model-based approach is necessary. Moreover safety functionalities require a suitable control strategy in order to satisfy the customer and legislative requirements.  

Objective

The goal of this project is the development of a model-based control strategy, whereby the accuracy is to be improved with a suitable motorcycle model. The desired result of the control strategy is the stabilization of the unstable motorcycle eigenmodes, which can be triggered from road irregularities. For this reason the vehicle model should reproduce the effects of the frame stiffness on stability. The long-term goal is the real-time capability of the control strategy. As the hardware and software concept determine the computational efficiency, the optimal concept must be found.

Realization

• The first step consists in the development of a suitable motorcycle model, which keeps the computational effort to a reasonable level but at the same time reproduces the fundamental influences on stability. Therefore a sensitivity analysis is to be carried out in order to determine the most influential parameters.
• The controller will be implemented using the model resulting from the previous step. The controller development occurs together with the optimization of the previous and the successive step: if necessary, the model is adapted in order for the combination of model and controller to work as accurate and as efficient as possible.
• The model and controller must be finally tested on a real hardware. As the accuracy requirements of model and controller are very high, the hardware must carry out computational demanding operations. Therefore the hardware structure must be optimized on the software resulting from the previous steps. An iteration process is thus necessary.