Robust vehicle state and tire force estimation: Highlights on effects of road angles and sensor performance

This study presents an Extended Kalman Filter for estimation of vehicle planar velocities and tire forces. For this, a 10 Degrees of Freedom vehicle model is used together with onboard sensors. To gain robustness, the estimator considers unknown road angles. The method is validated using data gathered with a test vehicle driving over graded and banked roads and driving a demanding test provoking significant wheel slip. An analysis is done to evaluate the gains and drawbacks of including road angle estimation while driving over both flat and non-flat roads. In addition, the analysis highlights the effects of sensor performance on the estimation results and capabilities for a wide range of realistic driving scenarios.