Hybrid coati–grey wolf optimization with application to tuning linear quadratic regulator controller of active suspension systems

Vehicle suspension systems have become increasingly crucial for both driving safety and comfort. Active suspension systems can dynamically adjust suspension characteristics in real-time by introducing force into the system. Designing a controller for the real-time adjustment of the control force in active suspension systems is essential to meet challenging control objectives, including body acceleration, suspension deflection, and tire deflection. This article proposes a hybrid optimization approach named Coati–Grey Wolf Optimization (COAGWO), which combines the strengths of the coati optimization algorithm and grey wolf optimization to tune the gains of linear quadratic control applied to vehicle suspension systems. The COAGWO algorithm incorporates a unique strategy inspired by the Coati Optimization Algorithm, allowing wolves to climb trees. This enhancement significantly improves the wolves’ ability to explore the global search space and reduces the likelihood of being trapped in local optima. Initially, we conduct extensive experiments using a suite of challenging optimization problems from the CEC2019 benchmark to evaluate the effectiveness of the COAGWO algorithm. The effectiveness of COAGWO is compared against several state-of-the-art algorithms, including grey wolf, coati, aquila-grey wolf, whale, reptile search, tunicate swarm, and seagull optimization algorithms. The experimental results demonstrate that COAGWO consistently outperforms these algorithms in terms of solution quality and convergence speed. For the optimal weight selection problem of linear quadratic control applied to the control of vehicle suspension systems, the excellent performance of the proposed method is illustrated through comparative simulation studies under various road disturbance conditions. The results indicate that the COAGWO algorithm achieves a more efficient active suspension system compared to competitor algorithms by reducing the overall acceleration of the driver’s body, thereby enhancing ride comfort.