Domenico Bianchi - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Domenico Bianchi

IEEE transactions on automatic control, 2024

Drones, Jan 21, 2024

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

Journal of the Franklin Institute

In this work, a nonlinear observer-based controller is designed for the attitude control of a gro... more In this work, a nonlinear observer-based controller is designed for the attitude control of a ground vehicle with uncertainty estimation. This controller ensures the tracking of desired references in the presence of environmental disturbances and parametric uncertainties, making use of high-order sliding-mode estimators to estimate these perturbations. Furthermore, the controller incorporates a kinematic observer reconstructing the lateral vehicle velocity, based on a novel high-order sliding-mode observer. The proposed controller ensures good performance and better transient behavior with respect to existing controllers when parametric uncertainties and environmental disturbances are present. Its performance is evaluated by numerical simulation in CarSim, considering a challenging double turn maneuver, which is described in the ISO-3888 specifications.

In this paper, a robust nonlinear dynamic controller is designed for a wind turbine with a perman... more In this paper, a robust nonlinear dynamic controller is designed for a wind turbine with a permanent magnet synchronous generator. The wind turbine is subject to variations in all the parameters appearing in its mathematical model. Furthermore, the wind velocity is considered unavailable for direct measurement. This situation is of particular interest in practical applications, where only the nominal parameter values are known, and accurate wind velocity measurement is challenging due to perturbations caused by the turbine itself, even with appropriate sensors. The problem addressed in this work involves tracking the reference angular velocity corresponding to the wind velocity. To achieve accurate tracking, appropriate compensation of the perturbation terms resulting from parameter uncertainties and wind estimation errors is required. To address this problem, an estimator of the wind velocity is utilized, along with high–order sliding mode parameter estimators, to ensure high–perfo...

Machines

In this work, a nonlinear estimator-based robust controller is designed for the position and yaw ... more In this work, a nonlinear estimator-based robust controller is designed for the position and yaw control of a quadrotor with uncertainty estimation. This controller ensures the tracking of desired references in the presence of parameters variation and external disturbances, making use of high-order sliding mode (HOSM) estimators to estimate these perturbations that can be canceled by the control, thus improving the dynamic behavior of the controlled system. Its performance is evaluated making use of a Simcenter Amesim quadrotor based on physical models generated from experimental data in a co-simulation framework with Matlab–Simulink used to implement the designed controller with FPGA implementation. A challenging and generic maneuver with time-varying wind disturbances and uncertainty model parameters is considered.

52nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control

ABSTRACT This paper addresses the problem of vehicle attitude control in the presence of saturati... more ABSTRACT This paper addresses the problem of vehicle attitude control in the presence of saturating actuators. A novel approach of actuation balancing is proven to be the best way to keep the vehicle off saturation or, at least, to postpone the saturation occurrences as late as possible. In hard conditions, this may be not sufficient to guarantee tracking; hence the joint design of a load–balancing control law and an adapted reference generator is addressed, in order to cope with the lack in the control action and prevent unstable behaviors. On top of the formal results, the method is validated by means of simulations.

Proceedings of the Vertical Flight Society 78th Annual Forum

The use of autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in commercial applications has the potentia... more The use of autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in commercial applications has the potential to disrupt several industries. To effectively cover the broad spectrum of possible applications, UAV integrators require the ability to develop drone platforms that meet the requirements specified for the missions to accomplish. This is not limited to the correct sizing of the UAV physical subsystems, but also on the Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) algorithms that enable the UAV to operate autonomously in an efficient way. System simulation can provide a valuable support to both activities. In the predesign phase, it allows exploring the design space, analyzing the performance of multiple UAV variants, and selecting the most promising concepts. Once this phase is completed, the resulting dynamic and multi-physics performance model of the UAV presents a sufficient fidelity to support the continuous development of GNC algorithms. Thanks to a novel co-simulation framework proposed...

2019 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics (SMC)

In this work, we present a decentralized scheme for the control of a freeway traffic system over ... more In this work, we present a decentralized scheme for the control of a freeway traffic system over a non-ideal trans- mission channel, involving network delays ultimately resulting in possible packet losses in the digital communication. The feed- back scheme exploits the well-known Cell Transmission Model (CTM) and a ramp metering control, with actuation consisting of on-ramp traffic lights. In this context, the Model Predictive Control (MPC) approach is applied locally, in a decentralized way, which is preferable from the computational viewpoint with respect to centralized solutions, the complexity of which would grow rapidly with the dimension of the system at hand, making real-time traffic control potentially ineffective. The simulation setup is based on a traffic model whose parameters are identified using data produced by a commercial microscopic simulator of the traffic system. Preliminary performance results show the effectiveness of the approach taken, also in the case of parameter uncertainties, and look promising in view of future investigations.

IEEE Control Systems Letters

Attitude control systems for ground vehicles have been an important topic in automotive research ... more Attitude control systems for ground vehicles have been an important topic in automotive research for decades, and have been extensively studied by resorting to classical continuous-time nonlinear design. Although this approach can incorporate saturation constraints and actuator dynamics in the design, the computed control laws are often approximated and applied within digital environments in absence of formal performance guarantees. In this letter, we present a quantized sampled-data approach to the vehicle attitude control problem. Starting from classical nonlinear design achieving tracking of prescribed trajectories in continuous time (emulation approach), we derive conditions for preserving the practical stability of the error dynamics by means of quantized sampled-data eventbased controllers. Simulations performed in an non-ideal setting confirm the potential of the approach. Index Terms-Automotive control, event-triggered control, quantized control, sampled-data stabilization, tracking of nonlinear systems. I. INTRODUCTION V EHICLE active control systems have been an important research topic in automotive industry for decades [1], [2]. A major goal in this context has been to improve safety and comfort of drivers and passengers [3], [4], while future studies will more and more evolve towards the goal of full autonomous driving (see, e.g., [5]), exploiting distance communication [6] and coordination [7] among vehicles. Control of ground vehicles has been extensively studied by resorting to classical nonlinear design in continuous time (see, e.g., [8], [10]) or model predictive control (MPC) [11], [12]. Although such approaches can incorporate saturation constraints and actuators in the design [13], the designed methods are later applied within digital environments in absence of formal guarantees.

2013 European Control Conference (ECC), 2013

This work discusses the design of a networked traffic control scheme. We refer to the Grenoble So... more This work discusses the design of a networked traffic control scheme. We refer to the Grenoble South Ring traffic system, as case study, in which the control actions are computed in a control centre far from the traffic system and then sent, through a wireless communication channel, to the actuators placed along the road, i.e. on-ramp traffic lights in the considered case of ramp metering control. The communication channel is affected by delays and packet loss. In order to counteract the effects due to the transmission of the variable over the communication channel, we suggest to adopt a model predictive control (MPC) strategy based on the use of a buffer. Moreover, in order to limit the computational burden and improve the effectiveness of the proposal, the length of the optimization horizon of the predictive control algorithm, and, consequently, the buffer length, is updated relying on a delay estimation. The performances of the proposed approach are assessed in simulation relying on a traffic model the parameters of which are identified using data produced by a commercial microscopic simulator of the Grenoble South Ring traffic system. The capabilities of the considered control scheme when the system parameters vary and the transmitted signals are affected by time delays are highlighted.

Journal of the Franklin Institute, 2017

This paper addresses the problem of vehicle attitude control by means of active front steering an... more This paper addresses the problem of vehicle attitude control by means of active front steering and rear torque vectoring in the presence of saturating actuators. A novel approach of actuation balancing is proven to be the optimal way to keep the vehicle off saturation or, at least, to postpone the saturation occurrences as much as possible. To this end, a control law is proposed, achieving the tracking goal while keeping the balancing among the actuators. Exponential tracking is shown in nominal (non-saturated) conditions, where the optimality guarantees that the actuators remain as far as possible from their bounds. However, in hard conditions, saturations may still occur and tracking may be lost. Hence, it is shown how to modify dynamically the reference signals in order to compensate the lack of control action of actuators entering a possible saturation condition. As a consequence, less strict references are obtained and the tracking goal is recovered, while keeping the actuators within their saturation bounds. On top of the formal results, the method is validated by means of simulations performed in a non-ideal setting, including parameter uncertainties and unmodeled actuation delays.

IEEE Conference on Decision and Control and European Control Conference, 2011

Integrated control design to guarantee vehicle stability is one of the main topics in vehicle con... more Integrated control design to guarantee vehicle stability is one of the main topics in vehicle control. Actuators saturation is a main concern when dealing with this issue. In this work, we propose a fully integrated control by means of three actuators: Active Front Steering (AFS), Rear Torque Vectoring (RTV) and Semi-Active Suspensions (SAS). A feedback controller is used to ensure, in absence of input saturation, the exponential tracking of the reference trajectories. On top of that, a smart saturation management scheme detects when the actuators approach the occurrence of saturation, and determines a policy to avoid actuator saturations. The performance of the resulting control strategy, that is hybrid in general, is tested in simulation and compared with some classical solutions.

Proceedings of the American Control Conference

A networked traffic control scheme is presented in this paper. We refer to a realistic case in wh... more A networked traffic control scheme is presented in this paper. We refer to a realistic case in which the control actions are computed in a control center located far from the traffic system and then transmitted, through a wireless communication channel, to the actuators placed along the road, i.e. on-ramp traffic lights in the considered case of ramp metering control. More specifically, we assume that the communication channel is affected by delays and packet loss. We propose to adopt a control strategy of model predictive control (MPC) nature based on the use of a buffer to compensate for the time delays, so that the designed traffic networked control scheme provides performance significantly close to those of the ideal case (i.e. that with no delay). Moreover, in order to limit the computational load, a modified version of the control strategy is proposed, in which the length of the optimization horizon of the predictive control algorithm, and, consequently, the buffer length, is ...

International Journal of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles, 2011

Dynamic programming is known to provide the optimal solution to the energy management problem. Ho... more Dynamic programming is known to provide the optimal solution to the energy management problem. However, it is not implementable online because it requires complete a-priori knowledge of the driving cycle and high computational requirements. This article presents a methodology to extract an implementable rule-based strategy from the dynamic programming results and thus build a near-optimal controller. The case study discussed in this paper focused on mode switching in a series/parallel hybrid vehicle, in which a clutch may be used to change the powertrain topology. Because of the complexity of the system, the controller is divided in two layers: the supervisory controller, which decides the powertrain configuration, and the energy management, which decides the power split. The process of deriving the rules from the optimal solution is described in detail. Then, the performance of the resulting rule-based strategy is studied and compared with the solution given by dynamic programming, which functions as a benchmark. Then another comparison is performed with respect to the equivalent consumption minimisation strategy (ECMS) which, if optimally tuned, can achieve optimal performance as close to DP as possible with the advantage of being implementable.

IFAC Proceedings Volumes, 2011

In this work an integrated attitude control of a vehicle is designed. The actuators considered ar... more In this work an integrated attitude control of a vehicle is designed. The actuators considered are the active front steering, the rear torque vectoring, and the semi-active suspensions. We design also an algorithm for the saturation management. The resulting controller is hybrid. In nominal conditions, when saturation conditions do not occur, a feedback guarantees exponential tracking of the reference trajectories. In critical conditions, a hybrid feedback law assigns higher priority to some states to improve the tracking. It is shown that the saturation management improves the controller performance. Some simulations results are provided, showing the performance of the proposed controller.

International Journal of Vehicle Autonomous Systems, 2010

This work studies the combination of Active Front Steering (AFS) with Rear Torque Vectoring (RTV)... more This work studies the combination of Active Front Steering (AFS) with Rear Torque Vectoring (RTV) actuators in an integrated controller to guarantee vehicle stability. Adaptive feedback technique has been used to design the controller. The feedback linearisation is applied to cancel the nonlinearities in the input-output dynamics of the vehicle. Parameter adaptation then is used to robustify the exact cancellation of the nonlinear terms. The results show tracking and stabilisation capabilities when important parameters, like tyre stiffness and tyre characteristics, are affected by estimation errors.