Robust $H_{\infty}$ Path Following Control for Autonomous Ground Vehicles With Delay and Data Dropout

This paper presents a robust $H_{\infty}$ path following control strategy for autonomous ground vehicles with delays and data dropouts. The state measurements and signal transmissions usually suffer from inevitable delays and data packet dropouts, which may degrade the control performance or even deteriorate the system stability. A robust $H_{\infty}$ state-feedback controller is proposed to achieve the path following and vehicle lateral control simultaneously. A generalized delay representation is formulated to include the delays and data dropouts in the measurement and transmission. The uncertainties of the tire cornering stiffnesses and the external disturbances are also considered to enhance the robustness of the proposed controller. Two simulation cases are presented with a high-fidelity and full-car model based on the CarSim–Simulink joint platform, and the results verify the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed control approach.