Evaluation of a vehicle directional control with a fractional order PDμ controller

In this paper, a novel controller, the fractional order PDμ controller, is designed to improve the performance of the driver-vehicle system. First, fractional calculus and fractional order PIλDμ controller are introduced. A control algorithm for vehicle directional control using the fractional order PDμ controller is then presented. Based on preview-follower theory, the on-line tuning method of the fractional order PDμ controller is designed. By comparing simulated and experimental results, the validity and robustness of the proposed fractional order PDμ controller in the closed loop system are verified. Finally, comprehensive evaluations are performed between the systems with the fractional order PDμ controller and with an integer PD controller. The results demonstrate that the use of the fractional order controller leads to an improvement of the performance of the driver-vehicle system.