Antiskid control of multi-wheel vehicles using coupled and decoupled Kalman filtering incorporating pitch weight transfer

A brake controller for controlling an amount of braking force applied to a plurality of wheels of a vehicle running on a surface, each of the plurality of wheels having a sensor for providing an output signal indicative of a corresponding speed of the wheel, the controller comprising:

• state estimator means for estimating an amount of friction between each of the plurality of wheels and the surface based on the output signals of the sensors, the estimated amount of friction for each wheel being based on the estimated amount of friction for the other wheels, and
• control output means adjusting the amount of braking force applied to the plurality of wheels based on the estimated amount of friction.

A method for controlling an amount of braking force applied to a plurality of wheels of a vehicle running on a surface, each of the plurality of wheels having a sensor for providing an output signal indicative of a corresponding speed of the wheel, the method comprising the steps of:

• estimating an amount of friction between each of the plurality of wheels and the surface based on the output signals of the sensors using state estimates arrived at via Kalman filtering of the output signals, the estimated amount of friction for each wheel being based on the estimated amount of friction for the other wheels, and
• adjusting the amount of braking force applied to the plurality of wheels based on the estimated amount of friction.