Vibration Control of Semi-Active Suspension System using Modified Skyhook with Advanced Firefly Algorithm

The semi-active suspension (SAS) system is a partial suspension device used in the vehicle system to improve the ride comfort and road handling. Due to the high non-linearity of the road profile disturbances plus uncertainties derived from vehicle dynamics, a conventional Skyhook controller is not deemed enough for the vehicle system to improve the performance. A major problem of the implementation of the controller is to optimize a proper parameter as this is an important element in demanding a good controller response. An advanced Firefly Algorithm (AFA) integrated with the modified skyhook (MSky) is proposed to enhance the robustness of the system and thus able to improve the vehicle ride comfort. In this paper, the controller scheme to be known as MSky-AFA was validated via MATLAB simulation environment. A different optimizer based on the original firefly algorithm (FA) is also studied in order to compute the parameter of the MSky controller. This control scheme to be known as MSky-FA was evaluated and compared to the proposed MSky-AFA as well as the passive suspension control. The results clearly exhibit more superior and better response of the MSky-AFA in reducing the body acceleration and displacement amplitude in comparison to the MSky-FA and passive counterparts for a sinusoidal road profile condition.