Tire Sensors for the Measurement of Slip Angle and Friction Coefficient and Their Use in Stability Control Systems

Intelligent tires are envisioned to be an important part of the future vehicle control systems and the three dimensional wireless MEMS accelerometers embedded inside the tire stand out as a promising candidate for the development of intelligent tires. The first part of the paper focuses on accelerometer based tire sensors for the estimation of slip angle and tire/road friction coefficient. We use a simple tire finite element model to generate lateral, tangential and radial tire accelerations for a fixed load and slip angle. The profiles are validated by using experimental data. The simulated acceleration profiles are used for the estimation of slip angle and tire/road friction coefficient. We present the estimation algorithms, promising simulative results and output sensitivities studies focused on the effects of changes in normal load, tire pressure and vehicle velocity. The second part of the paper focuses on the integration of the accelerometer based tire sensors into the vehicle control systems. The benefits of tire sensors coupled with a control system are quantified using computer simulations and their contributions to the overall performance of the control system are discussed.