Preview optimal control of vehicle semi-active suspension based on partitioning of chassis acceleration and tire load spectra

In order to improve the performance of vehicle semi-active suspension, a preview optimal controller is introduced. This controller consists of a model based feed-forward controller and an optimal feedback controller. To reduce the online computational cost, several control laws for different frequency ranges are extracted from the data of the optimal controller according to the detected frequency of the measured variables. The road profile ahead is scanned using LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) sensors. By using the trigonometric relations of the sensor with respect to the vehicle motion, the road profile is calculated. Simulation and experimental results have shown an improved performance regarding ride comfort and road handling compared to other controllers without preview.