Forced dynamic control: a model based control technique illustrated by a road vehicle control application

Forced dynamic control (FDC) is a generally applicable model based control technique in
the time domain originated by the author (Dodds, 2005), extending to nonlinear multivariable plants,
which takes advantage of modern digital processor implementation. The closed-loop system is forced
to obey a specified dynamics, which may be linear or nonlinear. The plant model and the FDC can be
formulated in the continuous or discrete time domain and a general theory is presented, with the aid of
a newly defined differential/difference operator. The control method is exemplified by its application
for adaptive cruise control (ACC) in which an additional throttle input to the driver’s input is the
control variable which modifies the road traffic dynamics to damp the well known wave motion that
can build up in trails of vehicles on a motorway, thereby preventing traffic congestion. The Golzis-
Herman-Rothery (GHR) vehicle following model is used. The simulations demonstrate very effective
control.

Citation:
Dodds, S.J. (2006) ‘Forced dynamic control: a model based control technique illustrated by a road vehicle control application’ Proceedings of Advances in Computing and Technology, (AC&T) The School of Computing and Technology 1st Annual Conference, University of East London, pp.136-141.