Control of steering-by-wire system using bilateral control scheme with passivity approach

Steer-by-wire system, in which the conventional mechanical linkages between the steering wheel and the front wheel are removed, is suited to active steering control, improving vehicle stability, dynamics and maneuverability, and besides, is applied to autonomous steering control to assist the driver. Conventional controller for SBW system is designed by general feedback control method. However, driver can not exactly feel reaction torque generated from tire. In this paper, the goals are considered as following two points. One is a reproduction of environmental impedance in steering wheel. The other is improved maneuverability for SBW system. Moreover, control stability must be satisfied. This paper, first, review general bilateral control scheme using disturbance observer. Secondly, this paper proposes a novel bilateral control scheme with passive approach. We also study performance of the proposed control scheme and compare with general bilateral control scheme. The effectiveness of this research is demonstrated by experiment with electronic vehicle.