Alternative Input Devices for Steer-by-Wire Systems

With the recent push towards autonomous cars, a traditional steering wheel with its mechanical connection between the road and driver may soon be unnecessary. To facilitate interior design and lower production costs whilst still maintaining a manual alternative for maneuvering, an alternative steering input device relying on Steer-by-Wire technology is investigated. In order to finish the investigation and development of the steering device within the time-span of a master thesis, the limitation to only investigate the design of a hand wheel was established. The finished alternative steering device utilises an optical encoder for position measurement and a brushless direct current (DC) motor with a planetary gearbox for force feedback. Open-loop speed control proved to be insufficient with the available hardware. Instead, an approach of two PD-controllers regulating the angular error between the steering rack and the steering device was implemented successfully. Initially, mathematical models of the system components were derived and implemented in Mathworks Simulink. The transition from models to test rig implementation proved to be difficult due to unknown parameters in the hardware components such as embedded controllers in the steering gear and the internal works of the sensor emulator used to control the steering gear. By modifying parameters in accordance with system identification measurements performed on the test rig, the models could be validated. At the end of the project, a Volvo S60 was made available and the steering device was tested with real world driving. It was discovered that controllers tuned only for good reference following in the test rig did not translate to good driveability as the controller allowed for overly aggressive maneuvers. Following some in vehicle tuning, the proposed solution performed well during testing with surprisingly high drive-ability. For future iterations of similar hand wheel design projects, a user study was performed with regards to user experience, hand wheel size and perceived driveability