Implementation of Interconnection Communication in ECPB In-Loop Testing System for Semi-Trailer Vehicles

The semi-trailer ECPBS is adopted to achieve coordinated braking between tractor and trailer. Its control strategies are mainly verified through MIL and HIL tests. The correctness of the test results relies on the precision of the models. The dependence on the vehicle simulation models can be greatly reduced through an in-loop testing system, which combines the ECPB hardware test bench with the semi-trailer twin test vehicle. However, due to the long spatial distance between the two, higher requirements are placed on the real-time performance of the testing system. The communication interconnection mode, distributed network architecture, data coupling method and data coupling method of the in-loop testing system were investigated. Moreover, a delay compensation controller based on model prediction was designed and was applied to the motion control of the twin test vehicle. The simulation results have shown that the compensation controller can ensure the stability of vehicle motion with a goodness-of-fit of 0.826 under a delay of 0.7 s. Further experimental verification shows that the instructions issued by the ECPB hardware test bench controller can reach the semi-trailer twin test vehicle within 0.6 s, indicating that the communication interconnection method is feasible and can meet the real-time requirements of the in-loop testing system.