Estimating the deceleration of a braking vehicle by fusing the pulses from odometry and the measurements from accelererometers
The ultimate goal is to have an algorithm for online/onboard/real-time estimation of acceleration of a vehicle during braking by fusing the outputs from odometry (pulses triggered by rotating wheels) and the periodic measurements of acceleration from MEMS accelererometers. General ground vehicles can be considered but ultimately the motivation comes from trams (and possibly other rail vehicles). The proposed estimator could and perhaps even should take advantage of having at least a simple mathematical model of dynamics of the vehicle (model-based estimation).
Simulation
One of the first steps towards the ultimate goal is implementation of a simulator of the system augmented with the two sensors. The challenge might be that while measurements from the accelerometer arrive periodically (time-driven sensing), the pulses from the wheels arrive aperiodically (event-driven sensing). A suitable framework for simulation will have to be found. Consider both some
- Matlab&Simulink-based solution (SimEvents, Stateflow, ...)
- and some free and open-source solution (OpenModelica-based, Python-based, or perhaps even Julia-based).
Experiments
Although some real data obtained from measurement on a tram might be provided later and even some more experiments with a tram can be realized, it may be useful to mimic such experiments with some more affordable vehicle such as a bicycle. Planning and realization of such experiment might be another step in this project.