Force Feedback in Steer-by-Wire Systems: Architecture and Experimental Results

In this paper a preliminary architecture of a force-feedback subsystem in steer-by-wire (SBW) systems is proposed. In SBW applications, a force feedback control is needed to recreate on a steering wheel (or another man-machine interface) a drive feeling like the one produced by a traditional mechanical steering system. In this case a brushless motor is used as force feedback actuator. To validate the proposed architecture we adopted a Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) approach. HIL is a powerful development tool. In particular, a dynamic model of the vehicle is implemented in virtual hardware. The model is needed to evaluate the realized hardware (ECU and inverter needed to operate the motor) and to validate the force feedback control algorithms before the real implementation of the complete SBW system.Experimental results show as the realized ECU and the implemented control algorithm based on a field oriented control technique are correct and particularly suitable for steer-by-wire applications.