A Preliminary Conceptualization of an Observer Based on a Sliding-Mode Approach for Vehicle Condition Monitoring Without Tire-Specific Modelling

In the field of vehicle control systems, the development of strategies for estimating variables indicative of vehicle performances and tire-road conditions is fundamental for ensuring the safety and stability of road vehicles. Typically, the sideslip angle coupled with the lateral tire-road forces are employed for improving control systems through their identification in real-time with model-based estimators, such as Kalman Filters. A sliding-mode observer, specifically a super-twisting one, for making vehicle and tire-road condition monitoring is presented in this work. The observer design is obtained through a vehicle model for capturing lateral and yaw dynamics, avoiding the employment of specific tyre models, which require fine-tuning operations related to their parameters after executing expensive experimental tests. The proposed observer demonstrates to be a reliable alternative to Kalman Filters, widely employed in the automotive field.