Embodiments of the present invention provide a control system (100) for determining a suspension calibration of a vehicle (800). The control system (100) has one or more controllers (120) that receive route data indicative of a route ahead of the vehicle (800). One or more processors (130) determine, from the route data, a prediction of a first acceleration at a first location (320) ahead of the vehicle (800) and a second acceleration at a second location (330) ahead of the first location(320). The one or more processors (130) determine a suspension calibration of the vehicle (800) in dependence on the second acceleration. The actual acceleration of the vehicle (800) is measured at the first location (320) and compared with the first acceleration. If the measured and first acceleration are within a predetermined tolerance, the processor (120) produces a suspension control signal at output (121) which is received by a suspension controller (140) to apply the suspension calibration prior to the vehicle (800) arriving at the second location (330).

An electrically powered suspension system includes: an electromagnetic actuator; an information acquisition unit configured to acquire time-series information related to stroke position of the electromagnetic actuator, information on stroke velocity, and an amount of change in stroke of the electromagnetic actuator and information on a stroke direction based on the time-series information; a damping force calculation unit configured to calculate target damping force based on the information on the stroke velocity; and a drive control unit configured to control driving of the electromagnetic actuator using target driving force obtained based on the target damping force. The damping force calculation unit calculates equivalent friction compensation force based on the amount of change in the stroke and the information on the stroke direction, and corrects the target damping force based on the calculated equivalent friction compensation force. The equivalent friction compensation force has elastic force component and dynamic friction force component.

The invention relates to a method for determining a parameter indicative of a road capability of a road segment (18) supporting a vehicle (10). The vehicle (10) comprises a plurality of ground engaging members (12, 14, 16, 38, 40, 42). The method comprises: —for each ground engaging member (14, 42) in a sub-set of the plurality of ground engaging members (12, 14, 16, 38, 40, 42), setting a contact force (N.sub.14,S, N.sub.42,S) between the ground engaging member (12, 14, 16, 38, 40, 42) and the road segment (18); —determining a target global load vector (G) to be imparted to the vehicle (10), the target global load vector (G) comprising at least a vertical load and an inclining moment, —determining contact forces (N.sub.12, N.sub.16, N.sub.38, N.sub.40) for the ground engaging members (12, 16, 38, 40) of the plurality of ground engaging members (12, 14, 16, 38, 40, 42) which are not in the sub-set such that the contact forces (N.sub.12, N.sub.14,S, N.sub.16, N.sub.38, N.sub.40, N.sub.42,S) for the plurality of ground engaging members (12, 14, 16, 38, 40, 42) together result in a resulting global load vector (R), a difference measure (DM) between the resulting global load vector (R) and the target global load vector (G) being equal to or lower than a predetermined difference measure threshold, —applying the contact force (N.sub.12, N.sub.14,S, N.sub.16, N.sub.38, N.sub.40, N.sub.42,S) to each ground engaging member of the plurality of ground engaging members (12, 14, 16, 38, 40, 42), —for at least one ground engaging member (14, 42) in the sub-set, determining a parameter indicative of the road capability of the road segment (18) associated with the ground engaging member (14, 42).

Realized is a technique of highly accurately calculating a state quantity of a vehicle. An ECU (600) of a vehicle (900) includes a ground contact load calculating section (610), an input quantity calculating section (620), a first state quantity calculating section (630), an observable calculating section (640), a second state quantity calculating section (650), and a damper ECU (660). The ECU (600) calculates a first state quantity of the vehicle (900) by inputting, into a vehicle model, a value calculated from a G sensor value and/or the like, and calculates a second state quantity of the vehicle (900) by correcting the first state quantity with use of an observable which is calculated from a ground contact load and a spring constant gain of a tire.

A controller estimates a state of a vehicle based on a wheel speed sensor provided on the vehicle, and outputs a control signal to a shock absorber provided between a wheel and a vehicle body according to the estimated state of the vehicle. The controller uses information of a sensor of an in-vehicle apparatus other than an apparatus dedicated to the shock absorber as an observed value in the estimation of the state of the vehicle. In other words, the controller uses sensor information of a navigation apparatus corresponding to the in-vehicle apparatus other than the shock absorber, more specifically, gyro information meaning information of a gyro sensor mounted on the navigation apparatus as the observed value in the estimation of the state of the vehicle.

Methods and apparatus to adjust vehicle suspension damping are disclosed herein. An example apparatus includes interface circuitry, machine readable instructions, and programmable circuitry to at least one of instantiate or execute the machine readable instructions to determine a terrain condition based on first wheel position data of a vehicle and second wheel position data of the vehicle, determine a damping command based on the terrain condition, and adjust a suspension of the vehicle based on the damping command.

It is an object of the present invention to suitably estimate a state of a vehicle. A vehicle state estimation section (1200) includes: a main computation section (1210) configured to carry out linear computation with respect to a state amount related to a state of a vehicle; and a tire model computation section (1240) configured to carry out nonlinear computation with direct or indirect reference to at least part of a result of the linear computation carried out by the main computation section (1210).

An active vehicle height control method may include securing a road surface profile for unevenness of a road ahead of a vehicle and forming a target vehicle height profile by filtering the road surface profile. In addition, a controller is configured to form a disturbance profile using the road surface profile and the target vehicle height profile. The controller estimates vehicle behavior for the disturbance profile. Furthermore, the controller determines an inverse-phase control force that minimizes the estimated vehicle behavior, and drives an actuator using the inverse-phase control force to adjust a height of the vehicle.

A method of on-demand energy delivery to an active suspension system is disclosed. The suspension system includes an actuator body, a hydraulic pump, an electric motor, a plurality of sensors, an energy storage facility, and a controller. The method includes disposing an active suspension system in a vehicle between a wheel mount and a vehicle body, detecting a wheel event requiring control of the active suspension; and sourcing energy from the energy storage facility and delivering it to the electric motor in response to the wheel event.

A suspension control device which controls an operation of a suspension of a vehicle includes an operation-induced state quantity estimation portion which estimates an operation-induced state quantity caused by an operation of a vehicle, a road surface-induced state quantity estimation portion which estimates a road surface-induced state quantity caused by a road surface, an operation-induced state quantity conversion portion which converts the operation-induced state quantity into an operation-induced required damping force, a road surface-induced state quantity conversion portion which converts the road surface-induced state quantity into a road surface-induced required damping force, and a current value calculation portion which determines a current value to be applied to the suspension with reference to the operation-induced required damping force and the road surface-induced required damping force.