Robust Observer Design of Tire Forces in Heavy-Duty Vehicles

This paper presents a robust observer design methodology to estimate tire forces in heavy-duty vehicles. The proposed methodology uses low-cost sensors and observer-based numerical differentiators. In addition to the already available sensors, low-cost sensors from the CAN bus are employed to get additional measurements. Sliding mode differentiators are used to optimize the sensors´ configuration. Validation of the proposed estimation methodology is made by comparing the results with that generated using the PROSPER software simulator. The finite-time convergence with small estimation error suggests that the proposed methodology is valid and can be applied in real time.