A Review on Vehicle-Trailer State and Parameter Estimation

Vehicle-trailer systems have various unstable modes including trailer snaking, jack-knifing, and roll-over, which should be considered in their stability control. For stability control design purposes, various techniques have been proposed to estimate vehicle-trailer system states and parameters. Some of these techniques rely on vehicle kinematic/dynamic models while others are data-driven and do not require a model. This review paper provides a comprehensive overview of different model-based and non-model-based techniques/algorithms developed for estimating vehicle-trailer system states and parameters. The main features, limitations, and assumptions for each estimation method are discussed. The trailer parameter estimation feasibility is also investigated for different possible vehicle-trailer on-board sensor settings. This paper can be used as a review and reference resource for engineers working in vehicle with semi-trailer state estimation and safety systems.