Implementation of an Electronic Park Brake Feature with Limited Data Availability

Many automotive companies utilise an electronic park brake (EPB) system as a replacement for the conventional manual parking brake system. This allows to reduced driver workload and also supports automatic apply/release features. This paper discusses a development of an EPB control model that comprises the high level functional software algorithms to control the operation of the remote EPB actuator. The objective is to improve and extend the existing system functionality employing feature enhancements via in-house development. The control strategy utilised in the model development involves implementation of the safety requirements, vehicle attribute estimation, driver presence detection, diagnostics and fault reaction strategy. The latter is presented in the context of a drive away release (DAR) function, an automatic release feature determined based upon detection of driver intention to drive. Necessary information is inferred from secondary available data as a development of the specific sensors is considered to be too expensive. These are required to be estimated/observed with increased precision to fulfil the safety requirements. The development of the EPB control strategy is realised via MathWorks Simulink and validated/refined in the experimental phase using hardware in the loop simulation and test (HILST) technique employing dSpace MicroAutoBox.