Adaptive Active Suspension System With Road Preview

A method for controlling an active suspension, comprising steps of:

• determining a dimension of a road abnormality ahead of the vehicle;
• comparing the dimension with a vehicle dimension;
• responsive to the comparison, classifying the abnormality as one type of a plurality of predetermined types;
• responsive to a dimension of the abnormality, further classifying the abnormality as having one of a small, medium, and large severity;
• and
• controlling the suspension responsive to the type and severity.

A method for controlling an active suspension system, comprising the steps of:

• a) by a computing means operatively coupled to the suspension system:
• initializing at least one correction factor for use in calculating an estimated height of a location on the road surface ahead of the vehicle;
• b) by at least one road condition sensor operatively coupled to the suspension system, previewing a portion of a road surface ahead of a moving vehicle to acquire road surface condition data;
• c) by at least one vehicle parameter sensor operatively coupled to the suspension system, acquiring vehicle parameter data that is time-correlated with the road surface data;
• d) by a computing means operatively coupled to the suspension system:
• generating, using the road surface data, the vehicle parameter data, and a current value of the at least one correction factor, an estimated height of a location on the road surface ahead of the vehicle;
• and
• e) by a controller operatively coupled to the suspension system, controlling the active suspension system responsive to the estimated height of the road surface location, when the vehicle is moving on the road surface.