The Fractional Order PID Method with a Fault Tolerant Module for Road Feeling Control of Steer-by-Wire System

To improve the road feeling of the steer-by-wire (SBW) system, a fractional order PID (proportion-integral-derivative) method with a fault tolerant module is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the overall road feeling control strategy of the SBW system is introduced, and then the mathematical model of road feeling control is established. Secondly, a fractional order PID (FOPID) controller is designed to control torque of the road feeling motor. Furthermore, genetic algorithm (GA) is applied to tune the FOPID controller’s parameters. Thirdly, a fault tolerant module aiming at potential failures of the motor’s torque sensor is studied to improve the reliability of the system. Kalman Filter (KF) algorithm is utilized in the fault tolerant module so as to detect failures of the motor’s torque sensor, and then fault tolerant module reconfigures the motor’s torque estimated by KF as a substitute when the torque sensor fails. Finally, simulations based on MATLAB are performed with the proposed control strategy to identify its performance, and the results demonstrate that the proposed control method is feasible and accurate.