Mass Estimation of Ground Vehicles Based on Longitudinal Dynamics Using IMU and CAN-Bus Data

Abstract This paper considers the problem of real-time estimation of ground vehicle mass, based on longitudinal dynamics. Compared to previous contributions, this work relies on basic data from the vehicle controller area network bus. This allows for application to a very broad range of vehicles, by not using vehicle specific parameters such as current gear indicator and engine torque. The current gear ratio is predicted based on the engine and vehicle speeds. The engine torque is modelled by the mass air flow rate of the engine. The road gradient is estimated with an inertial measurement unit, with fusion of gyroscope and accelerometer using a complementary filter. To handle prolonged dynamic conditions affecting the performance of the filter, compensation of external accelerations is made by use of the vehicle speed from the controller area network bus. The mass is estimated with a recursive least squares filter with forgetting factor. The model is validated experimentally with data obtained from test drives with two different petrol powered passenger cars, equipped with a manual transmission and dual clutch automatic transmission respectively. The test drives consist of various driving conditions with different vehicle loads. The resulting mass estimates are generally good for both vehicles with variations within ± 5% of the actual masses.