Adaptive Cruise Control -Project Report: Computational Methods and Modelling for Engineering Applications (GENG8030-04-R-2022W)

Introduction: Cruise control (CC) is a method to achieve the desired speed without any intervention from the driver. It was developed for the vehicle destined for a long journey, thus helping avoid driver’s fatigue and providing better safety [3]. Adaptive cruise control (ACC) is upgraded to conventional cruise control (CC). Conventional cruise control allowed only to regulation of the speed of the vehicle. In contrast, adaptive cruise control allowed the driver to maintain the desired speed and the gap between the vehicles [2]. Figure 1 Adaptive cruise control in operation [3] The adaptive Cruise control (ACC) system senses a relative distance and relative speed to the preceding vehicle with a range sensor; this information is then used to generate a proper throttle or break command to achieve the desired speed and gap for the vehicle [1]. 2. Objective: The project aims to develop a prototype of adaptive cruise control using MATLAB to allow the driver to pre-set a desired speed and gap from the preceding car. When the gap increases between the vehicles, the host car increases the speed on its own, and when the gap is decreased, the host car should decrease the speed without the driver's involvement. In this project, the adaptive cruise control system operates at speeds ranging from 40 and above. 3. Project Requirements: 3.1 Hardware Requirements: Serial Number Component Quantity 1 Buttons 5 2 Arduino UNO 1 3 Jump Wires 29 4 Breadboard 1 5 Laptop with MATLAB installed 1 6 Ultrasonic Sensor 1 7 10 KΩ Potentiometer 5 8 220 Ω resistor 1 Table 1Hardware RequirementPage 5 3.1 Technical Requirements: In order to develop the model for adaptive cruise control in the MATLAB Simulink environment, we must first install multiple add-ons that offer various blocks required in the model. These add-ons may be installed from the MATLAB home tab by choosing the add-ons choices. These add-ons aid in the linking of hardware and software by assigning hardware connections to the blocks provided in these packages. The following add-ons were utilized to construct the adaptive cruise control: 1. MATLAB Support Package for Arduino Hardware. 2. Arduino Engineering Kit Hardware Support. 3. MATLAB Support Package library for Arduino Liquid Crystal Display.