Real-Time Ground Vehicle Parameter Estimation and System Identification for Improved Stability Controllers

Vehicle characteristics have a significant impact on handling, stability, and rollover propensity. This research is dedicated to furthering the research in and modeling of vehicle dynamics and parameter estimation. Parameter estimation is a challenging problem. Many different elements play into the stability of a parameter estimation algorithm. The primary trade-off is robustness for accuracy. Lyapunov estimation techniques, for instance, guarantee stability but do not guarantee parameter accuracy. The ability to observe the states of the system, whether by sensors or observers is a key problem. This research significantly improves the Generalized Polynomial Chaos Extended Kalman Filter (gPC-EKF) for state-space systems. Here it is also expanded to parameter regression, where it shows excellent capabilities for estimating parameters in linear regression problems. The modeling of ground vehicles has many challenges. Compounding the problems in the parameter estimation methods, the modeling of ground vehicles is very complex and contains many difficulties. Full multibody dynamics models may be able to accurately represent most o