Vehicle Dynamics Estimation & Control (VDEC)
Active chassis systems play an important role in automotive control development. Better performance is realised by increasing the level of integration while in the future these systems will be more and more “driven” by external information. Systems like radar, traffic information and car-to-car communication will contribute to boosting safety, avoiding accidents and reducing traffic congestion.
We offer services, products and facilities to develop and integrate vehicle dynamics control systems, system components and the appropriate algorithms.
Integrated or global chassis control aims to enhance driving stability, safety and comfort under all driving conditions through the optimal distribution of lateral, longitudinal and vertical tyre forces acting on the vehicle. The control system generates commands for the respective actuators to drive the desired force vectors, thus controlling the vehicle’s motion.
The design of a global chassis controller depends on the availability of reliable vehicle state information, primarily delivered by various sensors around a passenger car. In addition, a vehicle state estimator is a vital algorithm in the controller, generating additional state and parameter information that may not be measured directly. Using only a limited number of sensors, this increases the performance of the controller at minimum cost. For example, our vehicle state estimator is capable of estimating body slip angle and tyre-road friction using sensors available in production cars, even into the non-linear handling region and on banked and slippery roads.