Advanced Braking Methods for Longitudinal Control of Commercial Heavy Vehicles

In this report, we develop nonlinear dynamical models and longitudinal control algorithms that coordinate variable compression brake mechanism with service brakes for a Class-8 commercial heavy vehicle. For the coordination and full use of these retarding actuators, we model the multivariable system based on physics-based principles and experimental data. We show that, for one specific critical braking maneuver, the coordination of compression and service brakes reduces the use of the service brakes by a factor of 45, and that it reduces the settling time by a factor of 2. Key words: Advanced Vehicle Control Systems, Brakes, Commercial Vehicle Operations. Speed Control, Vehicle Dynamics