Method of obtaining the yawing velocity and/or transverse velocity of a vehicle

Claim 1

In a method of controlling a motor driven wheeled vehicle having front and rear axles and including the steps of obtaining values for at least one of the yawing velocity ω and the transverse velocity v y of the vehicle, and using the obtained values for at least one of the yawing velocity ω and the transverse velocity v y to control a driving dynamic of the vehicle; the improvement wherein said step of obtaining comprises: measuring and providing signals corresponding to the transverse acceleration a y , the front wheel drive angle δ v , and any rear-wheel drive angle δ h of the vehicle; forming a data vector m.sup.r (k-1)-[a.sub.y (k-2)a.sub.y (k-3)|δ.sub.v (k-1)δ.sub.v (k-2)δ.sub.v (k-3)|δ.sub.h (k-1)δ.sub.h (k-2)δ.sub.h (k-3)].sup.r from the three measured values a y , δ v and δ h , with k, (k-1), (k-2), and (k-3) representing times of measurements; multiplying the data vector m r (k-1) with the estimated value of a parameter vector p(k-1) to determine an estimated value for the transverse acceleration a y (k); recursively calculating the estimated value of a parameter vector p(k) using an estimation algorithm from the previously determined estimated value p(k-1) and an error value e(k)=a y (k)-a y (k); multiplying the matrix M*(k-1) of the data vector m r (k-1) with the matrix p* (k) of the parameter vector p(k) to determine a state vector x(k)=[ω(k) v y (k)]; and, determining at least one of the yawing velocity ω(k) and the transverse velocity v y (k) of the vehicle from the state vector.