A sliding mode controlled three wheeled narrow vehicle

Abstract

This paper presents a sliding mode controller for a narrow tilting three-wheeled vehicle. The vehicle is modelled as a dynamic eighteen-order system with two inputs and two outputs, however, a simple third-order model of a bicycle is considered for design and analysis. The appropriateness of the simpler model for design purposes is verified through simulations. The designed trajectory control considers vehicle stability limits and takes advantage of the bicycle model flatness. Tilting and speed controllers are designed in the sliding mode framework through the analytical development of the bicycle model and simulated in the full eighteen-order system.