Estimation of Non-Linear Tyre Forces for A Performance Vehicle using an Extended Kalman Filter

This paper will present a method of estimating tyre friction force using an extended Kalman filter (EKF). A review of current and proposed methods for tyre force estimation from the literature will be given. The EKF developed will estimate vehicle motions and tyre forces as state estimates from a noisy measurement set. The tyre forces will be compared to those from a high order vehicle model with non-linear tyres, which is subjected to the same tests as the measured vehicle, in order to validate the estimated forces. The aim is to have logged data from a high performance single seater racecar, which will typically run in the non-linear handling region. The ultimate aim of this work is to provide estimates of tyre forces to a controller such as ABS or TCS.