2009 International Conference on Electronic Computer Technology

Research of Variable Pavement Vehicle SBC Based on Adaptive RBF Neural

Network Sliding Mode Control
Zhou Zhiguang and Zhang Guixiang
College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering,
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacturing for Vehicle Body
Hunan University
Changsha, China
Email: China-zhiguang@163.com and zgx0828@sina.com
establish the precise mathematical model for non-linear
vehicle braking process. Most of the traditional control
methods need to know the mathematical models of object,
but it is difficult to obtain the precise mathematical models
of actual complex systems, or difficult to solve. In this
paper, adaptive sliding mode control method is used for
tracking control of nonlinear system; it can reduce the
dependence of information about control object. Through
the use of dynamic approximation basis function of function
neural network, adjusting the input of the control system
adaptively and can receive the adaptive control scheme
based on the RBF network sliding mode construct. Through
integrating adaptive control, sliding mode control and
neural network technology, the adaptive sliding mode
controller based on RBF neural network is designed, the
weight of the controller can learn and amend online
according to the reachability condition of sliding mode
control. The scheme not only removes the jitter problem of
sliding mode control, but also achieves high-precision and
fast tracking control of variable pavement vehicle SBC
system in the presence of model error and external
disturbances.

AbstractAutomotive SBC system is a nonlinear time-varying

and uncertain system, tire character changes in the scope of
large, and vehicles model is uncertain, so it is difficult to
establish the precise mathematical model for non-linear
vehicle braking process. Based on the basis of model
parameters gaining the estimated optimal slip rate, this paper
presents using adaptive RBF neural network sliding mode
control algorithm in the control of variable pavement vehicle
SBC, with the control of vehicle under the optimal slip rate,
the simulation results show that the braking performance is
very good. This shows the feasibility and validity of the
adaptive RBF neural network sliding mode control algorithm
presented by this paper to the vehicle SBC system.
Keywords- Nonlinear system; RBF Neural Network Sliding
Mode Control; Pavement Recognition; SBC; Simulation

. INTRODUCTION
At present, because of mainly based on the experience
logic threshold control, the widespread use of anti-lock
braking has difficulties in the choice of threshold, the
estimation of speed and the identification of road. And it is
need to carry out a large number of parameter match test for
different vehicle models. The control accuracy is not high
enough, the portrait wheel slip rate is not maintained in the
optimal slip rate in the entire control process in theory, but
fluctuates in the vicinity. It is failed to achieve the best
braking performance, the room to further shorten the
braking distance is small [1]. The optimal slip rate control
of Vehicle SBC (Sensotronic Brake Control) based on
variable pavement could estimate the attachment factor
between current tires and the road, determine the optimal
slip rate of the variable pavement for real-time control, keep
the portrait wheel slip rate maintain the optimal slip rate.
Compared to ABS, the braking distance has been further
shortened.
Vehicles and road systems constitute a complex
nonlinear dynamic systems, it is difficult to identify the
pavement by using traditional linear dynamic models such
as the slope rule, the vague rule and the threshold method.
This paper discusses the optimal slip rate estimation
question based on the model parameters, then controls the
vehicle under the optimal slip rate and gets good braking
performance.
Automotive SBC system is a nonlinear time-varying and
uncertain system, tire character changes in the scope of
large, and vehicles model is uncertain, so it is difficult to

978-0-7695-3559-3/09 $25.00 2009 IEEE

DOI 10.1109/ICECT.2009.84

. PAVEMENT RECOGNITION
Vehicle SBC system based on variable pavement needs
to estimate the real-time adhesion coefficient between
vehicle tires and the road surface and confirm the optimal
portrait slip rate of the variable pavement to implement
real-time control to keep the tire portrait slip rate
maintaining at the optimal slip rate, then the braking
distance will be the shortest.
A. Estimation of optimal slip rate
At present, general use of the tire models are simplified
u - s double linear model, Kiencke u - s model, Pacejka
u - s model, Burckhardt u - s model and so on. This
paper uses the optimal slip rate estimation based on
Kiencke u - s model, and the curve equation describes as
follows [2]

P (s)

Os

    1

1  p1 s  p 2 s 2
In (1), O is the slope of P  s curve, and its value
usually preset at about 30, p1 and p 2 are the parameters
that need to be estimated.
From (1), by using the method of seek extremum, the
536

To simplify the research question, using single wheel

vehicle model shown in Figure 1. Ignore the air resistance
and wheel rolling resistance, the movement equation
describes as follows

optimal slip rate sopt and peak adhesion coefficient uopt

can be obtained as follows

sopt

P opt

p2 2    

O


p1  2 p 2

1
2

  2

m
v

   3

Tb

Make equivalent transform from (1), the result is

Os  P ( s ) [ P ( s ) sP ( s) s 2 ][ p1 p 2 ]T 4

Fx

In (4), time variable parameters p1 and p 2 can be

obtained from Kalman Filter method or recursive least
square algorithm with forgetting factor [3][4]. The real-time
estimated optimal slip rate sopt along with the pavement

Figure 1. Single wheel vehicle model

x

Vehicle movement equation m v

conditions changing can be obtained according to (2).

Wheel movement equation I Z

B. Tire simulation model

In this paper the Burckhardt u - s model brought
forward by Burckhardt is used in the computer simulation,
and its mathematical expression is [5]
u ( s) C1 [1  exp(C 2 s )]  C3 s  5

Wheel portrait friction

C2

C3

dry asphaltum
wet asphaltum
dry concrete
dry cobble
wet cobble
snow
ice

1.2801
0.857
1.1973
1.3713
0.4004
0.1946
0.05

23.99
33.822
25.168
6.4565
33.7080
94.129
306.39

0.52
0.347
0.5373
0.6691
0.1204
0.0646
0

NP

9
10

Fx is the wheel portrait friction,

Fx (s) m is the mass of the vehicle, v is the

Fx

speed of the vehicle,

is the adhesion coefficient

between wheel and pavement surface, I is the moment of

inertia of the wheel, Z is the angle speed of the wheel,
R is the radius of the wheel, Tb is the braking torque,

TABLE . TYPICAL VALUE OF THE PARAMETERS IN EQUATION

(5) UNDER DIFFERENT ROAD CONDITIONS

C1

Fx R  Tb

In (8) to (10),

In (5), C1 , C2 and C3 are parameters, and the values

of this three parameters under different road conditions are
given in table .

Pavement Types

Fx

 Fx 

N is the normal reacting force from wheel to pavement

surface
In the braking conditionslip rate is defined as

v  ZR
  
v

   (11)

. SIMULATION AND RESEARCH

A. The design of adaptive RBF neural network sliding mode
controller
Broom head and Lowe applied Radial Basis
Function(RBF) which was used in multi-variable
interpolation in the design of neural network and formed the
radial basis function neural network [6], which is a local
approach network that can approximate any arbitrary
precision continuous function, can greatly speed up
Learning speed and avoid local minimum problem, the
structure shown in Figure 2. RBF network is a three-tier
feed-forward network with single hidden layer, the input
layer is constructed with signal source nodes, input vector
mapped to the second level hidden space directly, the
transform function of hidden cell is RBF, Gaussian function
is selected in this paper, that is

From (5), by using the method of seek extremum, the

optimal slip rate sopt and peak adhesion coefficient uopt
can be obtained as follows

CC
1
ln 1 2      6
C2
C3
C
CC
u opt ( s opt ) C1  3 (1  ln 1 2 )  7
C2
C3
By changing the value of the three parameters C1 , C2
and C3 to simulate different pavement conditions in the
s opt

compute simulations, using the optimal slip rate obtained

from (6) as the target value to compare with the real slip
rate.

hj

. SINGLE WHEEL VEHICLE MODEL

In (12),

537

exp(

|| G  c j || 2
b 2j

) j 1
2
m 12

G is the input signal vector of RBF network, c j

could convergence to origin under the effect of Tb [8].

In this paper, using RBF network to approach the
relation between sliding variable G (t ) and Tb . It must
meet the premise that the sliding mode is reachable. Then
the weight of the network can be modified on-line, and the
aim of the modification is to seek the optimal weight for
obtaining stable convergence character. The modification
method is gradient descent method.

is the center of jth nodes of RBF network, b j is the base

j and b j ! 0 .

width parameter of node

h1

G1

w1

G2

h2

w2

wm

Gn

hm

wG (t ) G (t ) wTb (t )
16
wj
K
wTb (t ) ww j (t )
In (16), K is adaptive rate, and K ! 0 .
For

Figure 2. Structure of RBF neural network

wG (t ) G (t )
wTb (t )

Considering the switch function as the input of RBF

network and sliding mode controller as the output of RBF
network, using the learning function of neural network, then
it could realize single-input single-output of the neural
sliding mode control [7].

wTb (t )
ww j (t )

Pavement
Recognition

wj

RBF
Tb Vehicle
Model
Network

G (t ) ce(t )  e(t )
s

exp(

bG (t )  17

|| G  c j || 2

b 2j

)    18

JG (t ) exp(

|| G  c j || 2

b 2j

JG (t )h j (G )

19

J is the
b and K , and

In (19), b is the input parameter of the system,

Adaptive
Law

learning speed which is the multiply of

J ! 0.

As a result, the weight between hidden layer and output

layer could be adjusted on-line to realize the learning ability
of RBFNN. The weight adjusting algorithm is

Figure 3. Vehicle braking system diagram of neural sliding mode control

Select braking torque Tb as control variable. The

control goal is to seek the control law that can let the real
slip rate s fluctuate near the optimal slip rate sopt .

w j (t )

B. Simulation result
In order to verify the feasibility of neural sliding mode
control algorithm in vehicle SBC system, according to the
vehicle model and controller model in this paper, using
simulation software to construct the vehicle SBC simulation
model, the main simulation parameters are as follows:
single wheel vehicle vertical load m 350kg , the

G (t )

ce(t )  e(t )     13

e(t )

s opt (t )  s (t )    14

In (13),
The output of the RBF network sliding mode controller
is the vehicle braking torque,
m

Tb

exp(

|| G  c j || 2

b 2j

j 1

braking wheel initial speed is

rolling radius is R

)   15

160km / h , wheel

0.3m , wheel moment of inertia is

I 1.7kg m , acceleration of gravity is

g 9.8m / s 2 , learning speed of the system is
J 0.05 .

is the weight of the jth node.

x

The control target is G (t ) G (t ) o 0 , according to

Lyapunov stability theory, only when meet the sliding mode

Simulation on single pavement portrait adhesion

coefficient P 0.8 . Transformation curve between
wheel and vehicle speed, real slip rate and optimal slip rate,
braking distance and portrait adhesion coefficient are shown

G (t ) G (t )  0 ,

v0

m is the number of neurons in hidden layer, w j

reachable condition

w j (t  1)  w j  K ( w j (t  1)  w j (t  2))
20

Vehicle braking system diagram of neural sliding mode

control is shown in Figure 3. Switch function is designed as

In (15),

w G (t )
G (t )
wTb (t )

Then the RBF network weight learning algorithm is

x

sopt

wG (t ) G (t )
K
ww j (t )

the controlled system

538

Portrait Adhesion Coefficient

in Figure 4 to Figure 7. The braking distance is 117.9m,

braking time is 5.44s.

Speed/(km/h)

200
Vehicle Speed
Wheel Speed

150
100
50
0

3
Time/s

Adhesion coefficient

Portrait Slip Rate

0.6
0.4
0.2
0

Actual Slip Rate

Optimal Slip Rate

0.2
0.15
0.1

3
Time/s

3
Time/s

0.6
0.4
0.2
0

4
Time/s

Figure 8. Input signal of different pavement types

200

Simulation on variable pavement. The input signal of

different pavement types is shown in Figure 8.
Transformation curve between wheel and vehicle speed,
real slip rate and optimal slip rate, braking distance are
shown in Figure 9 to Figure 11. The braking distance is
142.0m, braking time is 7.32s.

150

Speed/km/h

Figure 5. Transformation curve between actual slip rate and optimal slip
rate

120

50
0

80

Vehicle Speed
Wheel Speed

100

100

4
Time/s

Figure 9. Transformation curve between wheel and vehicle speed

60
1

40
20
0

3
Time/s

Portait Slip Rate

Braking Distance/m

0.8

0.05
1

0.3

0
0

0.8

Figure 7. Transformation curve of portrait adhesion coefficient

Figure 4. Transformation curve between wheel and vehicle speed

0.25

Figure 6. Transformation curve of braking distance

Actual Slip Rate

Optimal Slip Rate

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0

4
Time/s

Figure 10. Transformation curve between actual slip rate and optimal slip
rate

539

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Braking Distance/m

150

100

50

4
Time/s

Figure 11. Transformation curve of braking distance

. CONCLUSION
During the braking processin the conditions of single
pavement and variable pavement. From Figures 4 and 9, we
can see that the actual slip rate tracks the optimal slip rate
well, and the braking distance and braking time is also very
short. The braking distance and braking time on high
adhesion coefficient single pavement ( P 0.8 are both
shorter than on the variable pavement, it is in line with the
actual situation.
Comparing Figure 3 and 8 we can that the changing of
the pavement has influence on the changing trend of wheel
speed and vehicle speed. On high adhesion coefficient, the
wheel speed and vehicle speed decline fast and the curve is
steep; On low adhesion coefficient, wheel speed and vehicle
speed declines small, and the curve is moderate; When the
next two pavement adhesion conditions change a lot, the
wheel speed and vehicle speed will also change greatly, it is
in line with the actual situation.
Throughout the process of braking, even when the two
adjacent pavement adhesion conditions change largely, the
wheel doesn't appear the phenomenon of locked braking,
which is in line with the actual requirements, and verify the
feasibility of the neural sliding mode control algorithm in
the vehicle SBC system.
REFERENCE
[1]

Cheng Jun, Theory and application for automotive

antilock braking system, Beijing: Beijing Institute of
Technology, 1999.

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