Abstract

As part of the vehicle environmental certification process, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires automobile manufacturers to run a series of “drive cycle” tests to evaluate the efficiency of a vehicle (miles/gallon for internal combustion engine vehicles or Wh/mile for electric vehicles). For these tests, the dynamometer must be controlled by a human driver. The goal of this project is to create a simulation model of a human driver performing an automobile speed control task using MATLAB and Simulink. This model mimics human control tendencies and error as closely as possible by tuning parameter values to best-fit experimental data. Outputs from the model are brake pedal and accelerator pedal positions. Inputs to the model are the current desired vehicle speed, the current actual vehicle speed, and the desired vehicle speed a short time in the future. This preview of the desired speed is available to human drivers in the dynamometer test, and including preview as a control pathway in the simulation model was critical to producing reasonable results.

Keywords – Simulation, Manual control, Parameter optimization, Grey-box model

Document Type

Final Report

Author's School

McKelvey School of Engineering

Author's Department

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Class Name

Mechanical Engineering and Material Sciences Independent Study

Date of Submission

12-29-2021

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