Estimation of Tire–Road Contact Features Using Strain-Based Intelligent Tire

ABSTRACT Sensors attached inside the tire near the contact area can provide crucial information on contact characteristics, e.g., slip, forces, and deformation of tires. Vehicle control systems such as antilock braking systems (ABS) and vehicle-stability control (VSC) can be enhanced by leveraging this information, since control algorithms can be updated based on directly measured parameters from intelligent tires rather than estimated parameters based on complex vehicle dynamics and on-board sensor measurement. Moreover, tire characteristics can be investigated by scrutinizing the sensor measurements on the basis of well-defined physical theories on tire mechanics. In this article, estimations of tire contact features have been studied with the circumferential strains measured inside the tire. These parameters were imported to physical tire models to finally predict lateral force, which plays the crucial role in algorithms of vehicle control systems, as well as in analysis of tire performance.