Multi-sensor switching strategy for automotive longitudinal control

In this paper we propose and explore a novel multi-sensor switching strategy for automotive longitudinal control. The proposed strategy selects, at each instant of time, the sensor (belonging to a collection of sensors) that provides the best closed loop performance, as measured by a control-performance criterion. It is assumed that each sensor has an associated feedback controller that has been designed such that the sensor-controller pair stabilises the closed loop system under normal operation conditions. Stability of the switching system under normal (fault-free) operation conditions is established in the main result of this paper. In addition, a simulation example illustrates that the proposed switching system is able to maintain performance levels close to the desirable ones, and to preserve stability, even under the occurrence of severe faults in some of the sensors