Jonathan Thomas Mullen

Transition threshold optimization for a rule based automotive cruise control

This paper presents a novel approach to fuel efficient vehicle speed control. Motivated by potential fuel economy improvements through periodic time-varying cruise control, a finite state machine structure is designed to control transitions between discrete states of acceleration, constant speed, and deceleration. The scheme accounts for changes in road grade, reduces fuel consumption, maintains drivability, and is easy to calibrate and implement. A method for optimizing the thresholds that control transitions between the states of the finite state machine is introduced and demonstrated. Results from simulation and vehicle testing are presented for a test route, demonstrating up to a 5.47% dynamic fuel consumption improvement potential in vehicle testing.