PLENARY SPEAKER

Novel Sensors, New Estimation Algorithms and Advanced Controls: Solutions for Improving Highway Vehicle Safety and Mobility

Prof. Rajesh Rajamani
University of Minnesota, USA

Abstract

There are over 42,000 traffic fatalities in the U.S. every year. Technologies being developed by researchers to improve vehicle safety include electronic stability control systems, active rollover prevention, collision avoidance, lane departure avoidance, and cooperative vehicle control. Many of these technologies require addressing significant challenges in sensing and estimation. The first part of this seminar describes research activities in our laboratory in sensor development and estimation for these active safety applications. Novel sensor systems for measurement of tire forces, tire-road friction coefficient, vehicle roll angle, vehicle slip angle and road parameters are discussed. The second part of this seminar describes the development of a new class of narrow commuter vehicles designed to address traffic congestion, improve highway mobility and provide very high fuel economy. A prototype narrow vehicle with stability-enhancing automatic tilt control has been developed at the University of Minnesota. Results will be presented from a research project focused on making this narrow vehicle as safe, comfortable and easy to drive as a regular passenger sedan.

Biography of the Plenary Speaker

Dr. Rajamani obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California at Berkeley in 1991 and 1993 respectively and his B.Tech degree from the Indian Institute of Technology at Madras in 1989. After his Ph.D., Dr. Rajamani worked as a Research Engineer, first at United Technologies Research Center (UTRC) and then at California PATH, University of California, Berkeley. He is currently Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota. His active research interests include sensors, estimation and control design for automotive and biomedical applications.
Dr. Rajamani has authored over a hundred refereed publications and received 4 patents. He is the author of a popular book "Vehicle Dynamics and Control" published by Springer Verlag. Dr. Rajamani has served as Chair of the IEEE CSS Technical Committee on Automotive Control and on the Editorial Boards of the IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology and IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics. Among his many recognitions, Dr. Rajamani has been a winner of the CAREER award from the National Science Foundation, the 2001 Outstanding Paper award from the journal IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, and the 2007 O. Hugo Schuck Award from the American Automatic Control Council.