Robust reduced order two-degree-of-freedom tractor-semitrailer lateral control

This paper addresses the problem of tractor-semitrailer lateral control using two degrees of freedom H_∞ optimization. The synthesis procedure allows the separate processing of the robust stabilization problem and reference signal or disturbance rejection. The closed loop part achieves the robust stability requirement in the Gap metric, while the pre-filter part processes the reference signal and is designed to achieve model matching. LMI based H_∞ optimization is used in order to obtain reduced order controllers. The model used for control development is first presented, then the synthesis steps are detailed. The performances and the robustness of the controller are finally investigated by considering several maneuvers such as lane keeping and lane change with parameter variations