Appendix 1:

State Space Format

We have seen in Section 5.2 that the simplest way to describe handling of a
vehicle with linear tire characteristics, under action of external force Fye,
moment Mze, and/or steering angle input δ, is by using the following
equations:

m
V
ðβ_ 1 rÞ 5 Yβ
β 1 Yr
r 1 Cα1
δ 1 Fye ðA1:1Þ

Jz
r_ 5 Nβ
β 1 Nr
r 1 a
Cα1
δ 1 Mze ðA1:2Þ

where the derivatives of stability Yβ, Yr, Nβ, and Nr are defined by (see also
Section 5.2):

Yβ 5 2ðCα1 1 Cα2 Þ ðA1:3Þ

a
Cα1 2 b
Cα2
Yr 5 2 ðA1:4Þ
V

Nβ 5 2ða
Cα1 2 b
Cα2 Þ ðA1:5Þ

a2
Cα1 1 b2
Cα2
Nr 5 2 ðA1:6Þ
V

where we neglect the contributions of the aligning torque. The variables and
parameters in Eqs. (A1.1). . .(A1.6) are the yaw rate r, body slip angle β, the
vehicle forward speed V, the mass m, yaw inertia Jz, the front and rear axle
cornering stiffnesses Cα1 and Cα2, and the distances a and b between front
axle and vehicle’s CoG, and rear axle and vehicle’s CoG, respectively. The
preceding system can be considered in a general generic form:

x_ 5 A
x 1 B
u ðA1:7Þ

where x and u are the state and input vectors, respectively,

0 1

 δ
β B C
x5 ; u 5 @ Fye A ðA1:8Þ
r
Mze
257
258 Appendix 1: State Space Format

and where system matrix A and input matrix B are given by

0 1 0 1
Yβ Yr Cα1 1
21
0
Bm
V m
V C B m
V m
V C
B C B C
A5B N Nr C; B5Ba
C 1C ðA1:9Þ
@ β A @ α1
0 A
Jz Jz Jz Jz

Suppose, we are interested in obtaining output in terms of the lateral

speed vy (5β
V) and lateral acceleration ay. Then, we can write the output
vector yðtÞ in generic form as follows:


vy
y5 5C
x 1D
u ðA1:10Þ
ay

with the matrices C and D given by

0 1 0 1
V 0 0 0
0
B Yr C B C
C 5 @ Yβ A; D 5 @ Cα1 1
0A ðA1:11Þ
m m m m

The formulation (A1.7) and (A1.10) is known as the state space format.
It describes the general system of n first-order equations in state vector x.
The input is given by the m-dimensional vector u. The dimension of the out-
put vector y is denoted as k. Consequently, the system matrix A is an n 3 n
matrix, B is an n 3 m matrix, C is a k 3 n matrix, and D is a k 3 m matrix.
The system in state space format may be described using a block diagram,
as shown in Figure A1.1.
The symbol “1/s” indicates integration and is in correspondence with the
s-domain properties. Note that integration in the time domain is created by
dividing by s in the s-domain (obtained after using the Laplace transformation).
Various tools exist in MatlabSimulinks to treat state space models.
First, one must define the state space model in terms of the matrices A,. . .,D
as follows:

SYS 5 SSðA; B; C; DÞ;

FIGURE A1.1 Block diagram for state space model.

 Appendix 1: State Space Format 259

Next, one must define the initial conditions X0 for the state vector X (a
matrix with a number of rows similar to the number of time steps, and with a
column for each separate scalar state). In the same way, the input vector U is
a matrix with rows corresponding to time stamp, and the same number of col-
umns as the number of entries of the vector uðtÞ. The time stamp is stored in
an array T.
For a predefined input U, the solution of the state space problem is
obtained by a single statement:

½Y; T; X 5 LSIMðSYS; U; T; X0Þ

The columns of X and Y are the states and outputs of the problem,
respectively.
As an illustration, we determined the step response for the vehicle data
specified in Appendix 6. The response in lateral acceleration is shown in
Figure A1.2.

FIGURE A1.2 Output (lateral acceleration) of the state space model (Eqs. (A1.7)
and (A1.10)).