An optimized anti-lock braking system in the presence of multiple road surface types

Abstract

In this paper, the use of adaptive anti-lock braking system (A-ABS) comprising of a road surface identification (RSID) system and road surface information modules is presented. The proposed ABS system is capable of identifying and differentiating different types of road surfaces, and applying an amount of brake force appropriate to the road surface type being encountered in order to prevent wheel lockup as well as to minimize the braking distance. A discriminative hierarchical evolutionary fuzzy system learns and identifies on-the-fly the road surface characteristics, from a set of built-in road surface information modules, in a closed-loop adaptive configuration. The closed-loop nature of RSID allows the system to adapt and respond very fast to a sudden change in surface condition. In order to verify the performance of the proposal, simulation results obtained from cars equipped with A-ABS, a reference ABS, and a non-ABS are provided and discussed.