A method for the estimation of sideslip angle for a vehicle equipped with a one-antenna GPS measuring system for steady state movement

One-antenna GPS systems present no possibility for the direct determination of vehicle slip angle. This is an easy task for dual antenna systems; however, many users have this kind of apparatus. In this paper, a method of estimation of this parameter, which is important for the estimation of vehicle steerability factors, is proposed (e.g. TB factor calculated on the basis of data from input test [8]). The method is based on two parameters measured by a one-antenna GPS system; these are the heading angle created from the Doppler channel coming directly from the GPS engine, and the yaw rate measured by an IMU device integrated and cooperating with the GPS engine. The sideslip angle which was calculated according to the proposed method is compared with an equivalent angle calculated on the basis of data from a non-slip measurement of velocity components for selected point of vehicle acquired using. The presented method is illustrated with examples from real tests. In the author’s opinion, the sideslip angle calculated with the application of measurement data obtained from a one-antenna GPS device could be used in practice. From comparison with another upper mentioned method, it follows that the differences between average values of sideslip angles obtained from both considered methods is not greater than 8%