Time-Delay Sliding Mode Control of the Active Suspension System

The performance of active suspension systems is critical for vehicle ride comfort and handling. The effectiveness of pre-designed controllers plays a significant role in the overall system performance. However, in practical applications, delays may occur between the acquisition of external information, such as road profile measurements, and its integration into the control algorithm. To address this issue, we propose the integration of a time-delay controller (TDC) with the sliding mode control (SMC) technique. This integration aims to improve the real-time handling of the road profile readings by allowing for better anticipation of future states. The control law for each method is designed, and the stability, convergence, and robustness are proven through Lyapunov theory. To evaluate the proposed approach, simulations are conducted using MATLAB code, and the results are presented. The chapter concludes that incorporating time delay in SMC improves predictive capabilities, tracking performance, and robustness to disturbances and uncertainties; however, it introduces the issue of the reaching phase.