Modeling and Control of BLDC Motor for Scaled Autonomous Vehicle Application

This paper includes a brief study of a BLDC motor considering it an important actuator in new autonomous applications. It can be a sample in treating such actuators from a low level till reaching a controlled closed-loop system. The BLDC motor with the presence of ESC (Electronic Speed Controller) is modeled as a DC motor. Experimental results with gray-box identification techniques were used to validate this assumption. Robust \(\mathcal {H}_\infty \) controller is implemented and compared with the conventional PI controller. To improve the controlled system loop an observer is designed and implemented in real-time. It works on the fusion of multiple sensors available on the platform. The targeted actuator is identified and controlled as a part of controlling and developing remote-control (RC) vehicles found in GiPSA-LAB. The main contribution of this paper is to propose a strategy that helps treat the BLDC motors used in scaled autonomous vehicles and pave the way for designing vehicle longitudinal controllers.