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T H E C O M PU T E R A PPLIC A T I O N S JO U RN A L

Constantin von Altrock Fuzzy Logic in

tive advantage is soon commonly used. In this article, I point to case stud- ies in antilock braking systems (ABS), engine control, and automatic gearbox control. I show how superior perfor- mance is achieved via fuzzy-logic Issue 88 November 1997 1
Circuit Cellar INK

Automotive Engineering

and neural-fuzzy design techniques. I also discuss development methodologies, tools, and code speed/size require- ments. Third, automotive engineering is competitive on an international scale. A technology that proves a Automotive engineering is one uzzy logic is competiarea where fuzzy logic has a powerful way made significant inroads. to put Constantin brings us up to date engineering with the latest developments. expertise into products in a short He examines fuzzy logics amount of time. Its highly impact on ABS braking, engine beneficial in automotive control systems, transmissions, engineering, where and antiskid steering. many system designs involve the expe- rience of design engineers as well as test drivers.

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Over the past years, fuzzy logic has become is a common design technology in Japan, Korea, Germany, Sweden, and France. The reasons are manifold. First, control systems in cars are complex and involve multiple param- eters. Second, the optimization of most systems is based on engineering exper- tise rather than mathematical models. Good handling, Fahrvergngen, and riding comfort are optimization goals that cant be defined mathematically.

ABS WITH FUZZY LOGIC In 1947, Boeing developed the first ABS for airplanes as a mechanical system. Today, ABS is standard equip- ment on most cars. A microcontroller and electronic sensors measure the speed of every wheel and control the fluid pressure for the brake cylinders. Mathematical models for a cars braking system exist,

but the interaction of the braking system with the road is far too complex to model adequately. Hence, todays ABS contains the engineering experience of years of testing in different roads and climates. PRODUCING FUZZY ABS Because fuzzy logic is an efficient way to put engineering knowledge into a technical solution, its no

surprise that many ABS applications are already on the market. Currently, Nissan and Mitsubishi ship cars with fuzzy ABS. Honda, Mazda, Hyundai, BMW, Bosch, Mercedes-Benz, and Peugeot are work- ing on solutions as well. ABS also benefits from fuzzy logics high computational efficiency. During a control loop time of 25 ms, the con- trollers must fetch all sensor data, pre-

Issue 88 November 1997 Circuit Cellar INK

Road Condition Optimum Slack (s) Dry 0.2 Slippery or Wet 0.12 Ice or Snow 0.05 Table 1The slack value for maximum brake effect depends on the road condition. process it, compute the ABS algorithm, drive the bypass valves, and conduct the test routines. Any additional function thus has to be computationally efficient. Most ABS systems use 16bit con- trollers, which can compute a medium size fuzzy-logic system in about 0.5 ms, using only about 2-KB ROM space [1]. You can check out a comparison of computing times of fuzzylogic systems on different microcontrollers [2]. BRAKING BASICS There are different ways in which fuzzy logic is used in ABS design. The implementation of Nippondenso [3] that I present exhibits an intelligent combination of conventional tech- niques with fuzzy logic. Lets first discuss some basics of the braking process. If a wheel rotates exactly as fast as it corresponds to the speed of the car, the wheel has no braking effect at all. If the wheel doesnt rotate at all, it is blocked. The blocking situation has

two dis- advantages. First, a car with blocking wheels is hard to steer. Second, the brake effect is not optimal. The point of optimum brake effect is between these two extremes. The speed difference between the car and the wheel during braking is called slack. Its definition is:

However, the point of maximum brake effect depends on the type of road. Table 1 lists typical values. ROAD SURFACE Conventional ABS controls the bypass valves of the brake fluid so the slack equals a set value. Most manu- facturers program this set value to a slack of 0.1, which is a good compro- mise for all road conditions. But, as Figure 1 and Table 1 show, this set value is not optimal for every road type. By knowing the road type, the braking effect can be enhanced further. So, how do you determine what the road type is? Asking the driver to push a button on the dashboard before an emergency brake is not feasible. Sensors provide one logical alterna- tive. Many companies have evaluated different types of sensors and concluded that sensors which deliver good road- surface identification are too expensive or not sufficiently robust. However, consider sitting in a car equipped with a standard ABS. After driving at a known speed, you could jam on the brake so the ABS starts to work. Even if you didnt know what the road surface was like, you could make a good guess from the cars reaction. If a driver can estimate the road surface

from the cars reaction, fuzzy logic can implement the same ideas into the ABS. Nippondenso did exactly this. When the ABS first detects the wheel block- ing, it starts to control the brakefluid valves so each wheel rotates with a slack of 0.1. The fuzzy-logic system then evalu-

ates the reaction of the car to the brak- ing and estimates current road surface. Considering this estimate, the ABS corrects the set value for the slack to achieve the best braking effect in the interval from s = 0.05 to s = 0.2. The fuzzy-logic system only uses input data stemming from the existing sensors of the ABS. Such input variables are deceleration and speed of the car, deceleration and speed of the wheels, and hydraulic pressure of the brake fluid. These variables indirectly indi- cate the current operation point of the braking and its behavior over time. Experiments show that a first proto- type with just six fuzzy-logic rules improves performance significantly. On a test track alternating from snowy to wet roads, the fuzzy ABS detected the roadsurface changes even during braking. A FUZZY BRAKE? Due to the high competition in this area, most manufacturers are reluctant to publish any details about the technologies they use. The cited applica- tion only shows results from an experimental fuzzy-logic system. The details about the final product arent published. Also, some car makers

(especially in the U.S.) worry about the negative connotation of the word fuzzy. Since it implies imprecision and inexactness, manufacturers are afraid that drivers may think a fuzzy ABS is inferior. Others are threatened by the possibil- ity of a suit in which a clever lawyer suggests to a laymans jury that a fuzzylogic ABS is something hazardous. s = V
ca r

C D r y R o a d

V
w he el

car wher e s is slack (bet ween 0 [no braki ng] and 1 [bloc king] ), V wheel is the cars veloc ity, and V is the whee ls veloc ity. Fig

W et R o a d

In = 0, the whee ls speed equal s the cars. In the case of s = 1, the whee l block s comp letely . The curve s show that the opti mum brake effect lies betwee n these two extre mes.

Snowy Road In Ger 0 S ma 0 ny, 0.25 on 0.5 the 0.75 oth 1 er han Figure 1This d, plot illustrates the brake effect over the wheel con slack s for dry, cept wet, and snowy s of road surfaces. fuz ( is the friction zine ss coefficient, or measure of and brake effect.) engi neer ing maste rpiec e do not fit toget her well in the publi c perce ption. Henc e, most manu factur ers

using fuzzy logic in ABS hide the fact.

segment of assembly code in a microcontroller. Once implemented, who can tell that this code contains fuzzy logic?

Temper ature of Co olant Vacu m in Air Intak e O 2 Concentration in Exhaust

Injection Amount (Fuzzy Logic)

Fuel Injection

When many publications about fuzzy logic appeared for the first time about five years ago, even reputed scientists

(Fuzzy Logic) Determi nation of Ignition Timing (Fuzzy Logic)

Ignition Timing

Electronic
Ignition

and professors in the U.S. stated that fuzzy logic shouldnt be used for critical applications. They claimed that it produces inherently instable systems.
This attitude is truly shameful. They

Knock Sensor

Ignition

demonstrated only that they did not understand what fuzzy logic is about. A fuzzy-logic system is a time invari- ant, deterministic, and nonlinear sys- temnothing fuzzy about that. Such systems are already known and applied in control engineering, and conventional stability theory covers them well [4]. In the case of a fuzzy ABS, stability isnt even an issue. Conventional ABS was considered stable for any slack set value in the interval from 0.05 to 0.2. Hence, a fuzzy-logic roadsurface esti- mator that tunes this value to the opti- mum cannot make the ABS instable.

Angl e of Cran kshaft Figure 2As you can see, the engine controller of NOK Corporation contains three fuzzy-logic modules. ENGINE CONTROL Lets move on to see how The control of car and truck fuzzy logic easily engines is becoming implements human increasingly more complex experience with more stringent emission in an embedded enginecontrol system. standards and constant effort to gain higher fuel efficiency. Twenty years ago, control systems were mechanical (i.e., carbure- tor, distributor, and breaker contact). Now, microcontroller-based systems control fuel injection and ignition. Since the control strategy for an engine depends strongly on the current operating point (e.g., revolutions, momentum, etc.), linear control models, (e.g., PID) are not suitable.

the by control strategy. Listing 1The current operation point of the engine sent is classified the linguistic variable Situation. Each linguistic term denotes a typical operation point. Because each term is The table is generated from represented as a fuzzy-logic membership function, the linguistic variable can classify all other operation points, too. the results of extensive testing and engineers experience. Term 1: Start Control strategy is that the cold engine The generation of such a timed early, and the mix is fat; look-up table, however, is Term 2: only suitable for three Idle Control ignition timing and fuel injection depending dimensions (two inputs and temperature to ensure that the engine one output). Also, the Term 3: Normal drive, low or medium load generation and interMaximize fuel efficiency by meager knocking; pretation of such tables is Term 4: Normal drive, high load difficult and considered a Fat mix and early ignition to maximize performance. constraint is the permitted emission maximum; black art. Term 5: Although fuzzy logic can Coasting replace these look-up-tables, Fuel cut-off, depending on situation; most manufactur- ers will not publish any details on a On the other hand, no fuzzy-logic engine-control mathematical model solution. describing the complete This secretiveness is due to behav- ior of an engine exists. the fact that the rules of the Most engine controllers use a fuzzy-logic system make the look-up table to repreentire engine-control knowl- edge of the company completely trans- parent. They are afraid competitors will learn too much about the solution by disassembling the fuzzylogic rules.
linguistic variable Situation {

IDENTIFY DRIVING CONDITION Nok and Nissans case study [5] gives the benefits of fuzzy logic in engine control. Figure 2 depicts the compo- nents of this engine controller, which contains three fuzzy-logic modules. The system first notes the engines operational condition by the linguistic variable Situation. This variable has the linguistic terms in Listing 1. a state estimation of the operation point. Because Situation is a linguis- tic variable, more than one term can be valid at the same time, so combina- tions of the operational points can be expressed as defined by the terms. A possible value of Situation could be {0.8; 0; 1; 0; 0; 0.3}. Linguistically, this value represents the driving condition engine started a short while ago,
The determination of Situation is

normal drive condition at medium or low load, slightly accelerating. From this operation-point identification, the individual fuzzy-logic modules control injection, fuel cutoff, and ignition. Like ABS, engine control needs a very short loop time. Some systems are as fast as 1 ms for an entire control loop. Some manufacturers design the system using fuzzy logic but then translate it into a look-up table for faster processing. Although a look-up table computes faster, memory requirements may pro- hibit its use. A look-up table with two inputs and one output, all 8-bit resolu- tion, already requires 64 KB of ROM.

Restricting the resolution of the input variables to 6 bits each, the look- up-table still requires 4 KB. A table with three inputs and one output, all inputs 6-bit resolution, requires 14 MB. Some engineers implemented a look- up table with a limited resolution and used an interpolation algorithm. How- ever, the interpolation needs about as much computing time as the fuzzy- logic system itself [2]. Another published application of fuzzy logic in engine control is an idle control unit by Ford Motor Corp. [6]. Next, lets check out automatic- transmission control to show how fuzzy-logic systems can adapt their control strategy to drivers. ADAPTIVE AUTOMATICS When the first three-speed automatic transmissions appeared on the market about 30 years ago, the engine power of most cars was just sufficient to keep the car in pace with traffic. The neces- sity of getting maximum momentum from the engine determined the shift points for the gears.

Photo 1This model car is used in highspeed driving experiments. Now, when most car engines can deliver much more power than necessary to keep the car in pace with traffic, automatic transmission systems have up to five speeds, and fuel efficiency has become an important issue, controlling shift points is much more complex. Five speeds and higher engine power give the automatictransmission system a much higher degree of freedom. Driving at 35 MPH, a three-speed automatic transmission has to select second gear. A fivespeed transmission with a powerful engine can select second gear for maximum acceleration, third gear for normal driving condition, and fourth gear for minimal acceleration. ACCELERATE OR SAVE FUEL Unfortunately, the goal for the con- trol strategy is in a dilemma. For maxi- mum fuel efficiency, you want to select the next higher gear as early as possible. But for maximum performance, you switch to the next higher gear later. If you have a standard shift, you choose your strategy

depending on the traffic condition. An automatic gearbox has no understanding of the traffic condition or the drivers wishes. However, intelligent control tech- niques can enhance automatic transmissions as it is based on experience

and engineering knowledge rather than mathematical models. Fuzzy logic therefore proves to efficiently imple- ment the technology. In 1991, Nissan introduced fuzzy- logic controlled automatic fivespeed transmission systems [7, 8]. Honda followed in 1992 [9], and GM/Saturn in 1993. The job for the fuzzylogic system in these applications is similar: avoid nervous shifting back and forth on winding or hilly roads understand whether the driver wants economical or sporty performance avoid unnecessary overdrive, if switch- ing to the next lower gear does not deliver more acceleration Figure 3 shows a typical situation on a fast, winding road. With a standard shift, youd leave it in fourth gear, but a five-speed automatic transmission switches between the fourth and fifth gears depending on the speed of the car. The fuzzy-logic transmission con- troller evaluates more than just the current speed of the car. It also analyzes how the driver accelerates and brakes.

To detect a winding road, the fuzzy- logic controller looks at the number of accelerator pedal changes within a period. Figure 4 shows the definition of the linguistic variable Accelerator pedal changes. The variance of the accelerator pedal changes is input to the fuzzy-logic controller. Some of the rules estimating the road and driving conditions from these input variables are:

Photo 2The first version of the fuzzy-logic controller has 200 rules in two rule blocks. The four left boxes indicate input interfaces for sensors, the two right boxes indicate output interfaces for the actuators, and the two large boxes in the middle represent fuzzy- logic rule blocks.

Road

Accelerat or Pedal

The opposite case is simi- lar. If the automatic transmission detects that the driver accelerates carefully and takes the foot off the accelerator long before red lights, chances are that the driver wants high fuel effi- ciency.

acceleration, the next logical step is skid-controlled steering. An antiskid steering system (ASS) reduces the steer- ing angle applied by the driver through the steering wheel to the amount the road can take. It optimizes the steering action and avoids sliding since a slid- ing car is very difficult to restabilize,
especially for drivers not accustomed

G 4 ea 5 r 4 5 4

W H Y F U Z Z Y L O G I C ? Th

to such situati ons.

Thoug h an ASS makes a lot of sense

Figure 3A five-speed automatic transmission with fixed shift points always switches between fourth and fifth gear on a winding road. A driver with a shift gearbox would leave it in fourth gear.

e ques tion rema ins, why do you need fuzzy logic to impl eme nt thes e intel liwit hin a peri od indi cate

from a technic al point of view, such a system is harder to market. For an ABS,
you can prove that it never performs

man y pedal chan ges

a fast and wind ing road few ped

a l c h a n g e s w i t h i n a p e r i o d i n d i c a t e a f r e e w a y

h m v a a n r y i a p n e c d e a o l f p c e h d a a n l g c e h s a n w g i e t s h i i n n d i a c a p t e e r a i s o l d o w a n a d n d a w i h n i d g i

ng ro ad m e d i u m v a r i a n c e o f p e d a l c h a n g e s i n d i c a t e s a f a

s t a n d w i n d i n g r o a d l o w v a r i a n c e o f t h e p e d a l c h a

n g e s i n d i c a t e s a f r e e w a y T he inte resti ng part of this appl ication is that the fuzz ylogi c cont roll er

uses the driver as the sensor. It interprets the driver s reactio n to the road and driving conditi ons and adapts the cars perfor mance accordi ngly. This behavio r could be used to define an intellig ent control system. The technic al system tries to underst and whether the human is satisfied

with its perfor mance and adapts itself to suit the needs of the human using it. INTEL LIGENT TRANS MISSIO NS An other exa mple of an auto mati c trans missi on syste m curre ntly unde r deve lopm ent in Ger man y illust rates

this possi bility even better. If drivers want to acceler ate, but arent satisfie d with their cars responc e, they uncons ciously push the pedal down even more wintin 11.5s. This scenari o represe nts the subcon scious reactio n of most drivers to unsatisf ac- tory acceler ation. Most drivers

d o n t e v e n r e a li z e t h a t t h e y li k e th e c ar to a c c e l e r a t e f a st e r.

I f

e o f a d n e t a e u c t ti o n m g a t t h i i c s, it t c r a a n n m s o m v i e s t s h i e o s n h if s t y p s o t i e n m t s i h s i g c h a e p r a t b o l a

chie ve mor e acce lerat ion.

gent funct ions? My answ er: whil e you can use other tech niqu es to impl eme nt these contr ol strat egies , fuzzy logic is likel y to be the most effici ent. I ntel lige nt con trol stra tegi es are buil t on

expe rienc e and expe rime nts rathe r than from math emat ical mod - els. Hen ce, a lingu istic form ulati on is more effic ient. Th ese strat egies most ly invol ve a large num ber of input s. Most of the inpu ts are only

relevant for some specific conditio n. Using fuzzy logic, these inputs are only consider ed in the relevant rules, keeping even complex controlsystem designs transpar ent. Anoth er consider ation is that intelligent control strategie s implem ented in massmarket products have to be implem ented cost efficient

ly. In comparison to conven tional solutio ns, fuzzy logic is often much more computational and codespace efficient . Lets look now at how fuzzy logic enable s the design of new functi onality for autom atic steerin g contro l. ANTISKI D STEERIN G Activ e

stability control systems in cars have a long history. First, ABS improve d braking performa nce by reducing the amount of brake force applied by the driver to what the road surface can take. This system avoids skidding and sliding, resulting in shorter braking distance s. Second , tractioncontrol systems, which do essential ly the

sa me thi ng as AB S, im pr ov e ac cel era tio n. By red uci ng en gin e po we r ap pli ed to the wh eel s to wh at the roa d can tak e, a tra

ct io n c o nt ro l s y st e m m a xi m iz es a c c el er at io n an d m in i m iz e s tir e w e ar . A f t

e r s k i d c o n t r o l l e d b r a k i n g a n d

worse than a tradit ional braki ng syste m. For an ASS, this is hard to prove . Al so, it may be diffi cult to sell cars that tak e over the stee ring in eme rgenc y situ atio ns. Even ABS

fac ed a lon g per iod of rej ect ion by cus to me rs beca use they felt unea sy abou ta syste m inh ibiti ng their brak e actio n. F or thes e reas ons, it may take a lon g tim

e befor e ASS will be impl eme nted in a prod uctio n car. All resul ts sho wn in this secti on stem from the resea rch of a Ger man car man ufact urer [10]. Becaus e this syste m is one of the most

complex fuzzylogic embedd ed systems ever develop ed, it effectiv ely demonstrates the potentia l of the technol ogy. THE TEST VEHICLE Real experim ents were made on a modifie d Audi sedan and the 20 model car shown in Photo 1. In the followin g discussi on, I only present the results derived

from the modelcar experi ments. A midm ounted 1-hp electri c motor powers the car, renderi ng the powertoweight ratio of a race car. This setup enable s the researc hers to perfor m skiddi ng and sliding experi ments in extre me situati ons at high speeds.
?

L o w M e d i u m

H i g h

00 10 40

20 30 A c c e l e r a t o r P e d a l C h a n g e s W i t h i n a P e r i

F i g u r e 4 H e r e , d r i v i n g c o n d it i o n i s c l a s s if i e d u s i n

o g d a l i n g u i s t i c v a r i a b l e . T h e v a r i a b l e l i n g u i s t i c a l

l y i n t e r p r e t s t h e a m p li t u d e o f a c c e l e r a t o r p e d a l c h a n g

es withi na

cert ain peri

od.

On dry surface, the car reaches a velocity of 20 MPH in 3.5 s, with top speeds up to 50 MPH. The speed for most experiments ranges from 20 to 30 MPH. Each wheel features individual suspension and has a separate shock absorber. The car has disk brakes and a lockable differential [10].
The cars controller uses the

Orientation

Posi tion

Ultrasoun d Beams

possible situation. In a fuzzy-logic system, every element is self-explana- tory. Linguistic variables are close to the human representa- tion of continuous concepts. Fuzzy if-then rules combine these concepts much the same way humans do. Fuzzy logic is nonlinear and
multiparametric by nature. So,

mot her boa rd of a note boo k PC

conne cted to an interf ace board

Figu re 5 Thre e ultras ound sens ors guide the car in the track.

it ca n b et te r co pe w it h c o m pl e x c o nt ro l pr o bl e m s th at ar e al so

drivi ng the actu ators and sens ors. Actuat ors are pow er steer ing servo , disk brak e servo , and puls ewidt h mod ulated mot or cont rol. Se nsors are three ultra soun d (US) dista nce senso

rs for trac king guid ance (see Figu re 5) and infr ared (IR) refle x sens ors in each whe el for spee d. The cont rol loop time fro m read ing in sens or sign als to setti ng the valu es

for the actua tors is 10 ms. To meas ure the dyna mic state of the car (e.g., skid ding and slidin g), IR sens ors meas ure the indiv idual spee d of all four whe els. Eval uatin g whe elspeed diffe renc

e su s ir , te t ut h ah e te f id u oi z ns z .t y Ta - hn l rc o ee g et i o c ft s ih y xe s en - de t -x e m t m oo ub i nn ts t et e da r c p Ul r Se e t t so s et t nh h se e of c rr u so r n r m t e e, n al t se

ft , a n d ri g h t. T h i s s e t u p p e r m it s a u t o n o m o u s o p e r a ti o n o f t

h e c a r . L o w c o s t s e n s o r s w e r e i n t e n t i o n a l l y

u s e d in t h i s s t u d y r a t h e r th a n C C D c a m er a s a n d i m a g ere c o g

nition techn iques to show that expen - sive senso rs can be replac ed by a fuzzylogic contr ol strate gy. Figu re 6 shows a sampl e experi ment involv ing the model car. The obsta cle is place d right after the curve , so the

US sens ors of the car dete ct the ob-

stacle too late. To not hit the obstacl e, the car has to decide for a very rapid turn. To optimi ze the steerin g effect, the antiskid control ler must reduce the desired steerin g angle to the maxim um the road can take , avoi ding both slidi ng and hitti

ng the obst acle . MODEL BASED VS. FUZZY LOGIC In theory, you can build a mecha nical model for a car and derive a mathe matical model with differe ntial equati ons to imple ment a modelbased control ler. In reality, the compl exity of this approach is

overw helmi ng, and the resulting contro ller would be diffic ult to tune. He re is the poin t for fuzzy logic : racecar driv ers can cont rol a car in extr eme situa tion s very well with out solvi ng diffe renti al

equat ions. Henc e, there must be an altern ative way for antiskid steeri ng contr ol. This alterna tive way is to represe nt the driving strateg y in engine ering heurist ics. Althou gh there are multip le ways of expres sing engine ering heuristics, fuzzy

l o g i c h a s p r o v e n v e r y e f f e c -

t i v e fuzzylogic f syste o m, r use few t rules h to e press gener f al o situati l ons, and

l then Ythe contra fuzzyst logic other algometho rithm ds deduces decisions expres for sing ifthen causal ities (e.g., expert syste ms), the comp utatio n fuzzylogic syste m quanti tative rather than symb olic.

n o n li n e a r a n d in v ol v e m ul ti pl e p ar a m et e rs .

ro l b a e p e pl f ic f at i io - ns c . i E e ve n n t on l a y st a i n m d p ar l d e m m ic e ro n c t o e nt d ro ll i er A n , a n d e fu m zz fi n b ye lo al ly d gi d c , fu e s d y zz y st c e lo gi o m n ca c ca t n

outpe rform a comp arable conve ntional soluti on both by code size and comp uting speed. DESIGN AND IMPLEM ENTATI ON Pho to 2 shows the first versio n of a fuzzylogic contro ller for the car. The object ive for this contro ller was auton o-

mou s guid ance of the car in the track at slo w spe ed, wh ere no ski ddi ng an d sli din g yet occ urs . In Phot o 2, the lowe r rule bloc k uses the dista nces mea sure d by the thre

e US senso rs to deter mine the steeri ng angle. The upper rule block imple ment sa simpl e speed contr ol by using the dista nce to the next obsta cle meas ured by the front US senso r and the speed of one front wheel only. Due to the slow

speed s, no skiddi ng or slidin g occur s. All wheel speed s are the same. Th is first versi on of the fuzz ylogi c cont roll er cont aine d abo ut 200 rule s and took only a few hou rs to impl eFigure 6

me nt. T he sec on d ver sio n of the fuz zylogi c co ntr oll er im ple me nts a mo re co mp lex fuz zy sys te m for dy na mi c sta bili ty co ntr In

ol. It incl udes antil ock brak ing as well as tract ion and antiski d steerin g contro l (see Photo 3). Thi s 600rule fuzzy -logic contr oller has two stage s of the fuzzy infere nce. The first stage, repre sente d by the three left rule block s, estim ates the this examp

le of a n e x p er i m e nt , th e c ar s ul tr a s o u n d s e n s or s wi ll d et e ct th e o b st a cl e pl a c e d

s t a t e v a r i a b l e s o f t h e c a r s d y n a m i c

s i t u a t i o n

l o w e r r u l e

f r b o l m o c s k e s n s e o s r t i d m a a t t a e . s T k h i e d d t i w n o g

and sliding states from speed sensor signals, while the upper rule block estimates the cars position and orien- tation in the test track. Note that the output of
the left three rule blocks

Development System (PC)

Serial Link

Online Code RealTime Commu nication Manager Onli ne

Par ser

Cha nge s

system was modified on- thefly for optimization. The fuzzy-logic code is separated into two segments. One contains all static partscode that
doesnt need to be modi-

t h e

D C

P r e

s t a t e v a r i a b l e e s t i m a t i o n i s

Dy na mi c C o d e B

m at ed st at e of th e ca r ca n th er ef or e be t he po sit io n is rat he r left , w hil e the ori en ta-

d P S ( (

th e c o d e c o n ta i n i n g m e m b e r s h i p f u n c t i o n s o f t h e l i n g u i s t i c v a

ti o n is st ro n gl y to th e ri g ht , an d th e ca r sk id s ov er th e le ft

Figure 7The fuzzyT ECH Online Edition feature s both visualiz ation of runnin g system and modific ations on-thefly.

fro nt w he el. T he se co nd sta ge, re pr

e s e n t e d b y t h e t h

p i p n e f r e r r u e l n c e e b l s o t c r u a f k c s o t i r d u n e r p t t e u he , t a r a s t m n d t di o r n t i e h d vs e e i t r t nh u e ge l r s e ms t s i i e . n t e re e ur e a i rig t t n ht h i g rul e o e na bl b . n oc e g ks, s Tl us t h e es c e , th o t es n uh e

e t s r t o i l m a a t c i t o i n o s n

e m i d d le o n e th e e n g i n e p o w e r to b e a p p li e d, a n d th e lo w er o n e th e b ra k

e f o r c e . S u c h a t w o s t a g e c o n t r o l s t r a t e g y i s s

i m il a r t o t h e h u m a n b e h a v i o r. It f i r s t a n a l y z e s t h e s it u a ti

on and then dete rmin es the acti on. It also allo ws for effic ient opti miz atio n, sinc e the tota l of 600 rule struc tures in six rule bloc ks can be desig ned and opti mize d independ ently

. T he firs t ver sio n of the co ntr oll er wa s onl y abl e to gui de the car on auton om ou s cru ise (se e Ph oto 2). Th e sec on d ver sio n

also succ eed ed to dynam icall y stab ilize the cars crui se via

ABS, tracti on contr ol, and ASS (see Photo 3). Ho wever , this versio n requir ed a much longer desig n time before the result s were compl etely satisfa ctory. The secon d versio n also uses advan ced fuzzylogic techno logies such as FAM infere nce [11]

and the Gam ma aggre gatio nal opera tor [12].

structu re (cf. Photo s 2 and 3), the lingui stic variab les, and the rule ONLI bases, NE DEVE fuzzyT LOPM ECHs comENT The piler devel genera opm tes the ent of syste m as C the fuzzy or assem logic bly syste code. Thi m s used code the was fuzzy imp TEC lem H ent softw ed on a are prod PC board uct moun [11]. Give ted on n the the graph car. Figure ical defi- 7 nitio shows how n of the the syste runni ng m

fuz zylogi c

T h e d y n a m i c s e g m e n t i s d o u b l e d , w i t h o n l y o n e

o f t h e s e g m e n t s a c ti v e at the sa m e ti m e. In thi s sit ua tio n, th e pa rs er, lin ke d to the de

v n e Tr l u o n p n m i e n n g t s P y C s t v e i m a w a i t c h o o m u m t u n h i a c l a t t i i n o g n s o r m a c n o a m g p e i r l , i n c g a .

A t th e sa m e ti m e, th e e nt ir e in fe re n c e fl o w in si d e t h e f u z z y lo gi c c o nt

r o l l e r i s g r a p h i c a l l y v i s u a l i z e d o n t h e P C , s i

n c e th e c o m m u n ic at i o n s m a n a g e r al s o tr a n sf e rs al l r e al ti m e d at

a. Th e ASS exa mple dem onstr ates the appli cabil ity of fuzz ylogic tech nolo gies for a com plex cont rol prob lem foun d in the auto moti ve indu stry. The syste m was a strai ghtfo rwar d desig n based

on exp eri me ntal exp erie nce wit hou ta mat he mat ical mo del of the pro ces s. D uri ng opti miz atio n, the con trol stra teg y was easy to opt imi ze due to the lin

guist ic repr esen tatio n inhe rent in the fuzz ylogic syste m. Test s and verif icati on were expe dited due to the contr oller s trans pare ncy. And, the poor com putat ional perf orm ance of early fuzz

ylogic softw are soluti ons was overc ome via a new gener ation of soft ware impl

eme ntat ion tool s [2, 13]. In the rem ain der of this arti cle, I pro vide

an over view of other auto motive appli catio ns wher e fuzzy logic has
been used successf ully.

ditioni ng of reside nces and offices . Hence , its no surpris e that many car manuf acture rs also use fuzzy logic in

th ei r H V A C s y st e m d e si g n s.

Photo 3 Heres the second version of the fuzzylogic controller. The controller uses advanced fuzzy-logic design technologies and contains a total of 600 rules.

HVAC IN CARS F uzz ylogi c desi gn tech nol ogie s are well esta blis hed in heat ing and air con

Photo 4This graph depicts the control surface of the air conditioners blower-speed control. Blower speed is determined by temperature error and engine-coolant temperature.

with automatic gearbox and ABS as test vehicle. The fuzzy-logic controller runs on an 8-bit microcontroller. The car uses a speed sensor and a single-beam telemeter for the distance to the next car. The actuators com- mand brake pressure and accelerator. Tests show the fuzzy-logic controller can handle the cruise under all the tested conditions. Future regulations in the European Community (EC) require a speed con- trol for limiting truck speeds on roads in Europe. Todays speed limiters use adaptive PIDtype controller. However, the resulting truck behavior is unsatis- factory, compared to an experienced driver. Whil e most car manufa cturers work on these systems , very few publish their efforts. The control approac h in general and hence the use
Therefore, a number of recent de-

of fuzzy logic in the design differ signifi cantly for each manuf acture r. In this sectio n, I use an exam ple that Ford

Motor Compa ny develo ped in the U.S. [14]. The fundam ental goal of HVAC in cars is to make vehicle occupa nts comfort able. Human

comfort, however, is a complex reaction, involving physical, biological, and psychological responses to the given conditions. The performance criterioncomfort is not some well-defined mathematical formula but a sometimes inconsistent and empirically determined goal. Typical HVACsystem sensors measure cabin temperature, ambient temperature, sun heating load, humid- ity, and other factors. Typical actuators are variable speed blowers, means for varying air temperature, ducting, and doors to control the direction of airflow, and the ratio of fresh to recirculated air. This multiple-input, multiple-output control problem doesnt fall into any convenient cat- egory of traditional control theory.

Photo 4 shows the control surface of a part of a HVAC systemthe blower-speed control. Blower speed depends on two input variablesthe temperature error (i.e., the incar temperature minus the set-point tempera- ture) and the enginecoolant temperature. Photo 5 shows the rule base. If the

temperature error is zero, low blower speed is desired. If its too hot inside (i.e., positive temperature error), high blower speed is needed to cool the cabin. If the error is negative, indicating that its too cold inside, and the engine is cold, little blower speed is needed for defrost. If the error is negative but the engine is warm, high blower speed is needed to heat up the cabin. OTHER APPLICATIONS This section briefly introduces some other examples of fuzzylogic control in automotive engineering. For details, refer to the papers cited. Peugeot Citron of France developed a fuzzy-logic system for an intelligent cruise control [15]. The system combines multiple functions for au- tonomous intelligent cruise control (i.e., following another

vehicle, stop and go procedu res, and emerge ncy stop). The system uses three fuzzylogic blocks with four inputs, one output, and 30 rules each. Optim ization and verificati on of the rule base used a Citron XM sedan

o 5 T h e r u l e b a s e f o r b l o w e r s p e e d c o n t r o l s h o w s h o

w t h e t w o v a r i a b l e s o f e n g i n e t e m p e r a t u r e a n d t e m p e

P h o t

rature error affec t blow er spee d.

signs use fuzzylogic control to achieve robust performance, even under the strong load changes of commercial trucks [16, 17]. A paper from Ford Electronics de- scribes the design of a traction-control system for a radio-controlled model car [18]. The fact that Ford publishes modelcar applications is symptomatic of the fear of many automotive manufactur- ers to admit that they use fuzzy logic as a design technique for real cars. THE FUTURE IS FUZZY Over the past

five years, fuzzy logic has significantly influenced the design of automotive control systems. Since using fuzzy logic involves a paradigm shift in the design of a control system, five years is a short period. The move from analog to digital solutions has taken a much longer time. The key reason for fuzzy logics suc- cess in automotive engineering lies in the implications of its paradigm shift. Previously, engineers spent much time creating mathematical models of mechanical systems. More time went to

real-world road tests that tuned the fudge factors of the control algorithms. If they succeeded, they ended up with a control algorithm of mathemati- cal formulas involving many experi- mental parameters. Modifying or later optimizing such a solution is very difficult because of its lack of transparency. Fuzzy logic makes this design process faster, easier, and more transparent. It can implement control strategies using elements of everyday language. Every- one familiar with the control problem can read the fuzzy rules and understand what the system is doing and why. It also works for control systems with many control parameters. Design- ers can build innovative control systems that would have been intractable using traditional design techniques. The future for fuzzy logic in auto- motive engineering is bright. Semicon- ductor manufacturers are incorporating fuzzy-logic instruction sets in their controllers. Motorola just introduced the new 68HC12 family of 16-bit micros that integrate a com- plete instruction set for fuzzy logic at no extra cost. Another new development is the upcoming IEC 1131-7 fuzzy-logic stan- dard [19].

This international standard defines consistent fuzzy-logic develop- ment and documentation procedures. With these two developments, designing with fuzzy logic becomes a much simpler task. Constantin von Altrock began re- search on fuzzy logic with HewlettPackard in 1984. In 1989, he founded and still manages the Fuzzy Technolo- gies Division of Inform Software Corp., a market leader in fuzzy-logic development tools and turn-key applications. You may reach Constantin at cva@inform-ac.com. REFERENCES [1] Intel, Fuzzy AntiLock Braking System, developer.intel.com/ design/MCS96/DESIG NEX/2351. htm, 1996. [2] Benchmark Suites for Fuzzy Logic, www.fuzzytech.co m/ e_dwnld.htm, 1997.

[3] N. Matsumoto et al., Expert antiskid system, IEEE IECON87, 810816, 1987. [4] C. von Altrock, Fuzzy Logic and NeuroFuzzy Applications Ex- plained, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1995. [5] H. Kawai et al., Engine control system, Proc. of the Intl Conf. on Fuzzy Logic and Neural Networks, Iizuka, Japan, 929937, 1990. [6] L. Feldkamp and G. Puskorius, Trainable fuzzy and neural-fuzzy systems for idle-speed control, 2nd IEEE Intl. Conf. on Fuzzy Systems, 4551, 1993. [7] H. Takahashi, K. Ikeura, and T. Yamamori, 5-speed automatic transmission installed fuzzy reason- ing, IFES91Fuzzy Engineering toward Human Friendly Systems, 11361137, 1991. [8] H. Ikeda et al., An intelligent automatic transmission control using a one-chip fuzzy inference engine, Proc. of the Intl. Fuzzy Systems and Intelligent Control Conf. in Louisville, 4450, 1992. [9] P. Sakaguchi et al., Application of fuzzy logic to shift scheduling method for automatic transmis- sion, 2nd IEEE Intl. Conf. on Fuzzy Systems, 5258, 1993. [10] C. von Altrock, B. Krause, and H.-J. Zimmermann,

Advanced fuzzy logic control of a model car in extreme situations, Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 48:1, 41 52, 1992. [11] INFORM GmbH/Inform Soft- ware Corp., fuzzyTECH and NeuroFuzzy Module 5.0 Users Manual, Chicago, IL, 1997. [12] H.-J. Zimmermann and U. Thole, On the suitability of minimum and product operators for the intersection of fuzzy sets, Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 2, 173 186, 1979. [13] C. von Altrock and B. Krause, On-LineDevelopment Tools for Fuzzy Knowledge-Base Systems of Higher Order, 2nd Intl Conf. on Fuzzy Logic and Neural Networks Proceedings, Iizuka, Japan, 1992. [14] L.I. Davis et al., Fuzzy Logic for Vehicle Climate Control, 3rd IEEE Intl. Conf. on Fuzzy Sys- tems, 530534, 1994. [15] J.-P. Aurrand-Lions, M. des Saint

Blancard, and P. Jarri, Autonomous Intelligent Cruise Control with Fuzzy Logic, EUFIT931st Eur. Congress on Fuzzy and Intelligent Technologies, Aachen, 17, 1993. [16] V.M. Thurm, P. Schaefer, and W. Schielen, Fuzzy Control of a Speed Limiter, ISATA Conf., 1993. [17] www.fuzzytech.com/e_a_ spe.htm. [18] R. Russ, Designing a Fuzzy Logic Traction Control System, Proc. of the Embedded Systems Conf., 2, 183196, 1994. [19] www.fuzzytech.com/e_i ec.htm. SOURCES fuzzyTECH Development System Inform Software Corp. 2001 Midwest Rd. Oak Brook, IL 60523 (630) 2687550 Fax: (630) 268-7554 www.fuzzyt ech.com Fuzzy-logic 68HC12 microcontroller

Motorola MCU Information P.O. Box 13026 Austin, TX 78711 (512) 328-2268, x985 www.mcu.motsps.com www.fuzzytech.com/moto rola.htm

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