Distributive Maneuver and Stability Control of a Vehicle in Severe Terrain Conditions

Project Summary

Principal Investigators

Masood Ghasemi (PI), Worchester Polytechnic Institute
Lee Moradi (co-PI), WPI

Students

Shila Alizadehghobadi, WPI

Government

Michael Cole, U.S. Army GVSC

Industry

Jianbo Lu, Nikola Corporation

Project #1.A123 begins in 2025.

The inherent complexity and parallelism of cyber-physical subsystems in autonomous vehicles create significant challenges, particularly during non-steady transient modes where time history is critical for real-time decision-making. These agile interactions can unpredictably impact vehicle behavior in dynamic environments. For unmanned ground vehicles, agility is defined as the system’s ability to provide fast, precise responses to maintain performance on severe terrain or near unexpected obstacles—a capability rooted in the dynamic balance of the cyber-physical architecture. The transition to electric vehicles with in-wheel-motors (IWMs) further enhances agility. By leveraging overactuation, IWMs allow for precise torque modulation and coordinated wheel control, ultimately improving terrain mobility, energy efficiency, and maneuverability.

Building on prior research (projects 1.A85 and 1.A113), the main goal of this research is to build an agile distributive maneuver control system for an IWM‐EV that addresses the above technical gaps, fully or partially. Specifically, through this research, the following fundamental research questions will be addressed:

RQ 1. How one can design a maneuver controller with less model dependencies on an IWM‐EV system and terrain environments?

RQ 2. How can constraints and stability margins associated with terrain environments be integrated with a maneuver control system to ensure robustness and lateral stability?

RQ 3. How one can design a distributive maneuver control such that control dynamical lags and discrepancies are reduced?

Accordingly, the following objectives will be research through this project:

Objective 1. Define and create a mathematical formulation of a maneuver control problem for a 4x4 IWM‐EV operating in offroad condition.

Objective 2. Design a control scheme that is less dependent on a plant model or is fully model‐free.

Objective 3. Extend the control system to incorporate system constraints with potentially unknown models and bounds.

Objective 4. Extend the control system and design a heterogeneous distributive maneuver control system for an all‐wheel‐drive IWM‐EV.

Objective 5. Build simulation scenarios and test and verify the results.

#1.A123