Professional drivers in drifting competitions demonstrate accurate control over a car's position and sideslip while operating in an open-loop unstable region of state space. Could similar approaches help autonomous cars contend with excursions past the stable handling limits, thereby improving overall safety outcomes?
Developing controllers for automated drifting could provide great insight into the general problem of fully utilizing the entire state space and ensuring that the widest possible range of maneuvers is available to an autonomous vehicle, should the need arise. When drifting, a standard assumption is removed - the orientation of the vehicle's velocity vector no longer follows that of the vehicle body. Although this at first seems daunting, the controller derivation instead reveals an opportunity: the rotation rate of the vehicle's velocity vector can now be used directly to track the path.
Then, by yawing the vehicle body faster or slower than its velocity vector, we can simultaneously control the sideslip of the vehicle.
The study will address the following objectives:
- Vehicle dynamic modelling and simulation with the tire force saturation
- Road-tire friction coefficient identification via vehicle state estimation
- Precise vehicle drifting control beyond the stability limits. Improve the vehicle path tracking performance under limited driving conditions
Research journey
Doctoral research programmes (PhDs) take a proud place in the world-class research environment and community at Brunel. PhD students are recognised and valued by their supervisors as an essential part of their departments and a key component of the university's overall strategy to develop and deliver world-class research.
A PhD programme is expected to take 3 years full-time or 6 years part-time, with intakes starting in January, April or October.
The general University entrance requirement for registration for a research degree is normally a First or Upper Second Class Honours degree (1st or 2:1) or an international equivalent. A Masters degree is a welcome, but not required, qualification for entry.
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Excellent research support and training
The Graduate School provides a range of personal, professional and career development opportunities. This includes workshops, online training, coaching and events, to enable you to enhance your professional profile, refine your skills, and plan your next career steps as part of the Researcher Development Programme. The researcher development programme (RDP) offers workshops and seminars in a range of areas including progression, research management, research dissemination, and careers and personal development. You will also be offered a number of online, self-study courses on BBL, including Research Integrity, Research Skills Toolkit, Research Methods in Literature Review and Principles of Research Methods.
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You will receive tailored careers support during your PhD and for up to three years after you complete your research at Brunel. We encourage you to actively engage in career planning and managing your personal development right from the start of your research, even (or perhaps especially) if you don't yet have a career path in mind. Our careers provision includes online information and advice, one-to-one consultations and a range of events and workshops. The Professional Development Centre runs a varied programme of careers events throughout the academic year. These include industry insight sessions, recruitment fairs, employer pop-ups and skills workshops.
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