Development of a New Lateral Stability Control System Enhanced With Accelerometer Based Tire Sensors

Vehicles are usually equipped with driver assistance systems such as anti-lock brake, traction control and lateral stability control systems. Although the forces maneuvering a vehicle are generated inside the tire contact patch, state of the art control systems have no feedback directly from the tires. Instead, observers based on indirect measurements are employed to close the control loop. Wireless sensors embedded inside the tires can be used to extract valuable information from the tire deformations such as forces. These forces can be used to develop adaptive stability control systems which update their parameters in real-time depending on the road and vehicle conditions. Furthermore, controllers can selectively regulate tire forces by changing brake/drive torques at each tire. This paper examines the integration of accelerometer based tire sensors with lateral stability control system (ESP). Its aim is to present the main components of a smart-tire enabled ESP and a preliminary study on potential performance improvements.