Speed control of vehicles with variable valve lift engine by nonlinear MPC

In this study, we purpose a control system of engine torque for a V6 spark ignition engine with a variable valve lift system. We apply a nonlinear receding horizon control to the SICE benchmark problem where we assume that the control inputs are throttle angle, variable valve lift and ignition timing. Moreover, a fuel injection control is also developed by estimating the amount of air in the engine. We propose a vehicle speed tracking control by defining time derivative of input as new input and dealing with input constraint by transformation of input variables. Finally, we show some numerical simulation results to verify the proposed methods.