Journal Article
Editorial—Hybrid Systems in Automotive Control
Rolf Johansson, Anders Rantzer
Abstract
For many reasons, the emergence of the hybrid control approach to networked embedded systems has received an enthusiastic industrial response. Hybrid control techniques can provide the basis for a more robust design methodology since they allow the designers to represent and manage the complex combination of time-based and event-based behaviours as well as interactions between continuous and discrete phenomena. Hybrid formalisms and methodologies for modelling, analysis, and verification have proved to be effective in handling several critical issues of the design flow such as: ---formalization of system specifications; ---plant and environment modelling, including representation of embedded controller inputs and outputs;-control algorithm design; ---representation of the interaction between multi-rate discrete time and event based asynchronous control loops; ---description of control-flow and data-flow for software implementation; ---validation and verification of control algorithms and their implementations; ---description of the hardware/software implementation requirements. With this special issue, the goal is to demonstrate the relevance of this evolution with special attention to the needs in automotive control. Many articles are peer-reviewed papers originally presented at the HYCON-CEmACS Workshop on Automotive Applications of Hybrid Systems held in Lund on June 12, 2006. This workshop was included in the automotive control activities of the HYCON Network of Excellence (http://www.ist-hycon.org), and CEmACS supported by the European Commission within the Sixth Framework ProgrammeInformation Society Technologies. The HYCON Network of Excellence concentrates on the use of advanced automatic control methods to make networked embedded systems fulfill their promises. The innovative nature of this proposal relies on the development of methodology from the modeling of the systems to the implementation of tools. Researchers in 26 academic institutions from around Europe, recognized widely by the international scientific community, together with affiliated industrial and international collaborators are developing novel ideas of automatic control and deploying them to address challenging, high impact problems in diverse application areas. Among these application areas are power generation and regulation, industrial production, automotive systems, data and sensor network operation and design. In the HYCON NoE framework, the European Embedded Control Institute (EECI) has been created. The CEmACS project (http://www.hamilton.ie/cemacs) is a partnership between DaimlerChrysler Research, the Hamilton Institute at NUI Maynooth, Lund University, Glasgow University and SINTEF. The objective of CEmACS is to contribute to a systematic, modular, model-based approach for designing complex automotive control systems. The Specific Target Research Project is aimed at combining research into the theory of multivariable control and nonlinear observers with a selection of novel prototype automotive control applications. Control and observer designs are evaluated using two real-life benchmark integrated chassis control design applications: (i) vehicle dynamics control for active safety (collision avoidance and rollover protection), and (ii) multivariable control design for ride and handling using multiple actuators (Generic Prototyping). The meeting was organized in the framework of the HYCON workpackage WP4c automotive control in close cooperation with the workpackage WP6 industrial bridging and the HYCON Industrial Advisory Board. The aim of the workshop was to identify challenges and opportunities for hybrid systems in automotive embedded control design. In particular, the following topics were discussed: industrial trends and concerns; methodologies, flows and tools; theoretical open problems. The workshop was attended by HYCON partners, CEmACS partners and representatives from automotive companies: DaimlerChrysler, DT Innovations, FIAT, Ford, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Scania, Volvo. Prof. Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli (PARADES, Univ. of California at Berkeley) gave the invited presentation of the workshop. The presentation of the contributions and the discussion were organized in with technical sessions on hybrid modeling and control vehicle dynamics, and engine dynamics and control. This Special Issue collects several high-quality papers which explore the above potential links. We wish to thank the European Commission for financial support for the HYCON (HYCON Network of Excellence, contract number FP6-IST-511368) and CEmACS projects. For support of our workshop, we are grateful to our HYCON colleagues Francoise Lamnabhi-Lagarrigue, Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli, and Andrea Balluchi. We wish to thank Ms. Eva Schildt and other members of our staff for their kind help in the organization of the workshop. As guest editors of this special issue, we would like to thank Prof. Eric Rogers, Editor and the Taylor & Francis team for cooperation.
International Journal of Control, 80:11, pp. 1699-1700, November 2007.