Comfort oriented nonlinear model predictive control: For autonomous vehicles

To promote automation in vehicles, autonomous driving should feel comfortable. To achieve low discomfort, a comfort oriented nonlinear model predictive controller is created. We know humans are sensitive for discomfort in certain frequencies in acceleration. By penalizing the frequencies for discomfort a higher comfort performance can be...

A Real-time Simulator for the Sport of Skeleton

The track bound sliding sport of Skeleton was permanently added to Winter Olympics programme in 2002. This has led to increased interest in the sport. Engineering has already proved to be a vital contributor to improved performance in the related sport of Bobsleighing. We hope that engineering can do the same for Skeleton. This report describes...

Online Vehicle Inertial Parameter Estimation: Testing Rozyn’s Algorithm Under More Realistic Conditions

The inertial parameters of a vehicle, which include the mass, centre of gravity position and the moments of inertia, influences the dynamics of the vehicle. Currently, the modelling of the vehicle is done by assuming fixed, conservative, values for the inertial parameters. Knowing the exact values may increase the performance, safety and comfort...

Is this the real-life? Or just virtual reality?: A head mounted display based virtual reality driving simulator study on the effect of roadside vegetation density on driving behaviour.

An issue in driving simulation is that behaviour displayed in simulation does not exactly replicate behaviour in real-life. For example, roadside vegetation density impacts a driver’s speed and lateral position in on-road studies, but not in driving simulator studies. In this study it is investigated if the increase in fidelity and presence that...

Network Decentralized Collision Avoidance with Applications in a Scalable Unmanned Aerial System Testbed

Decentralized control and estimation are both active research areas in the field of systems and control. A new approach to these topics utilizes graph theory to characterize inter-agent communication as a graph that, in this thesis, can have time-varying topology. This approach has been named "network-decentralized" and the use of network...

The impact of steering ratio variability to road profiles on driver acceptance and driving behaviour

Variable steering systems have the ability to change the ratio between the steering wheel and the front wheels while driving. These adjustable steering systems have led to an improvement in traffic and road safety and decrease in driver’s workload. A previous study concludes that driver steering behaviour is significantly dependent on vehicle...

About the mechanical properties of bicycle tyres

A lot of research has been done on the behaviour of pneumatic tyres and this has led to various tyre models and a lot of measurement data. However, in the specific field of bicycle tyres, not so much measurement data is available. However, in 2013 Andrew Dressel received the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering at the University of...

Phase-Specific Stiffness of Sprinting Prostheses: Performance Enhancement of Amputee Sprinting: A Modelling Approach

Running-specific prostheses enable amputee athletes to perform at the highest level. However, current prosthesis design still impairs sprinting performance in multiple ways. An example is the constant mechanical stiffness of the prosthetic devices. The dynamic behaviour of the blade is determined by this property, but it is static and cannot...

Adaptation of a non-linear controller based on Reinforcement Learning

Closed-loop control systems, which utilize output signals for feedback to generate control inputs, can achieve high performance. However, robustness of feedback control loops can be lost if system changes and uncertainties are too large. Adaptive control combines the traditional feedback structure with providing adaptation mechanisms that adjust...

A history of distal radius fracture disturbs processing of sensory feedback without influencing neuromuscular control in the wrist joint

A distal radius fracture (DRF) is one of the most common fractures, especially in older women. Previous research shows that a DRF disturbs sensorimotor functions even eight weeks after finished treatment, which could influence neuromuscular control. The neuromuscular system exists of a sensory, motor and integration part, which all interact with...

Development of a Robust Reference Path Generator for Lateral Vehicle Control

Automated vehicle control provides advantages in transport efficiency, redundancy, human-safety, flexibility, and parallelism. Extensive research has been dedicated to direct-following lateral control methods, using a single preview point as reference signal. However, these methods give rise to significant tracking errors. As alternative to a...

Hybrid Adaptive Integrated Chassis Control: vehicle lateral stability in presence of uncertainty

Extensive advancements in the field of mobility and safety in transportation in last few decades<br/>have acted as a catalyst for the expansion of automobile industry. The research for the evolution<br/>of new technologies, vehicle safety regulations and specifications and the market requirements<br/>has given this progress a greater push. The...