Ramifications of software implementation and deployment: A case study on yaw moment controller design

Automotive controllers are often first designed in a simulation environment using continuous time models of the controller and vehicle plant. Unfortunately, the controller´s implementation in software and deployment onto a microcontroller has ramifications for performance and cost. In this paper, we use an automotive case study of a yaw moment controller to demonstrate that these ramifications can and should be modeled, investigated, and accounted for early in the design process. More specifically, we evaluate and compare the effects of sampling period, timing delay, jitter, code size, and execution time for three yaw moment controllers, with insights applicable to control design in general.