Patent Abstract:
A method of densensitizing includes determining a relative roll angle, determining when the vehicle is in a transitional maneuver, and when the vehicle is in a transitional maneuver, setting a roll signal for control to the relative roll angle, reducing control effort and controlling a safety system ( 38 ) correspondingly.

Full Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   The present invention claims priority to U.S. provisional applications Ser. Nos. 60/401,464 and 60/401,416, filed Aug. 5, 2002, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein. The present application is also related to U.S. application Ser. No. 10/619,051 filed Jul. 14, 2003. 
   TECHNICAL FIELD 
   The present invention relates generally to a control apparatus for controlling a system of an automotive vehicle in response to sensed dynamic behavior, and more specifically, to a method and apparatus for desensitizing the activation criteria based on vehicle operating conditions. 
   BACKGROUND 
   Dynamic control systems for automotive vehicles have recently begun to be offered on various products. Dynamic control systems typically control the yaw of the vehicle by controlling the braking effort at the various wheels of the vehicle. Yaw control systems typically compare the desired direction of the vehicle based upon the steering wheel angle and the direction of travel. By regulating the amount of braking at each corner of the vehicle, the desired direction of travel may be maintained. Typically, the dynamic control systems do not address rollover (wheels lifting) of the vehicle. For high profile vehicles in particular, it would be desirable to control the rollover characteristic of the vehicle to maintain the vehicle position with respect to the road. That is, it is desirable to maintain contact of each of the four tires of the vehicle on the road. 
   In vehicle rollover control, it is desired to alter the vehicle attitude such that its motion along the roll direction is prevented from achieving a predetermined limit (rollover limit) with the aid of the actuation from the available active systems such as controllable brake system, steering system and suspension system. Although the vehicle attitude is well defined, direct measurement is usually impossible. 
   During a potential vehicular rollover event, wheels on one side of the vehicle start lifting, and the roll center of the vehicle shifts to the contact patch of the remaining tires. This shifted roll center increases the roll moment of inertia of the vehicle, and hence reduces the roll acceleration of the vehicle. However, the roll attitude could still increase rapidly. The corresponding roll motion when the vehicle starts side lifting deviates from the roll motion during normal driving conditions. 
   When the wheels start to lift from the pavement, it is desirable to confirm this condition. This allows the system to make an accurate determination as to the appropriate correction. If wheels are on the ground, or recontact the ground after a lift condition, this also assists with accurate control. 
   Some systems use position sensors to measure the relative distance between the vehicle body and the vehicle suspension. One drawback to such systems is that the distance from the body to the road must be inferred. This also increases the number of sensors on the vehicle. Other techniques use sensor signals to indirectly detect wheel lifting qualitatively. 
   One example of a wheel lifting determination can be found in Ford U.S. Pat. No. 6,356,188 and U.S. patent application number 7,109,856, both of which are incorporated by reference herein. The system applies a change in torque to the wheels to determine wheel lift. The output from such a wheel lifting determination unit can be used qualitatively. This method is an active determination since the basis of the system relies on changing the torque of the wheels by the application of brakes or the like. In some situations it may be desirable to determine wheel lift without changing the torque of a wheel. 
   Due to the inevitable dead spots due to the vehicle configuration, wheel lift detection methods may not be able to identify all the conditions where four wheels are absolutely grounded in a timely and accurate fashion. For example, if the torques applied to the wheels have errors, if the vehicle reference computation has errors or there is not enough excitation in the torque provided, the wheel lift detection may provide erroneous information or no information about the roll trending of the vehicle. Wheel lift information may also be safe-guarded by information regarding the vehicle roll angle information from the various sensors. 
   In certain driving conditions where the vehicle is moving with all four wheels contacting ground and the wheel lift detection does not detect the grounding condition, the roll information derived from the various sensors may be the sole information for identify vehicle roll trending. If in such driving cases, the vehicle experiences very large lateral acceleration and large roll rate, the grounded conditions might be replaced by erroneous lifting conditions. That is, those signals may predict that the vehicle is in a divergent roll event but the actual vehicle is not in a rolling event at all. Such cases include when the vehicle is driven on a mountain road, off-road or banked road, tire compression or an impact may cause a large normal load. The increased normal load causes a force component to be added to the lateral acceleration sensor output. Hence, a larger than 1 g lateral acceleration is obtained but the actual lateral acceleration of the vehicle projected along the road surface might be in 0.6 g range. An off-road driving condition may also be an off-camber driving condition. When a low speed vehicle is driven on an off-camber road with some hard tire compression or impact, the control system may be fooled to activate un-necessarily. 
   In order to reduce false activations, it would therefore be desirable to provide a rollover detection system that sensitizes and desensitizes the roll control determination. 
   SUMMARY 
   The present invention sensitizes and desensitizes the roll decision based upon various conditions to make the roll decision more accurate. 
   In one embodiment, a method of densensitizing includes determining a relative roll angle, determining when the vehicle is in a transitional maneuver, and when the vehicle is in a transitional maneuver, setting a roll signal for control to the relative roll angle, reducing control effort and controlling a safety system correspondingly. 
   In another embodiment, a method of operating a vehicle comprises determining roll condition, holding a peak brake pressure to counteract rollover, determining a first wheel departure angle, determining a second wheel departure angle after the first wheel departure angle, and when the change of the first wheel departure angle and the second wheel departure angle is less than a threshold, releasing the peak brake pressure. 
   One advantage of the invention is that some or all of the ways in which to sensitize and desensitize may be used alone or simultaneously to improve a safety system such as a rollover control system. 
   Other advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent when viewed in light of the detailed description of the preferred embodiment when taken in conjunction with the attached drawings and appended claims. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a diagrammatic view of a vehicle with variable vectors and coordinator frames. 
       FIG. 2  is an end view of an automotive vehicle on a bank with definitions of various angles including global roll angle, relative roll angle, wheel departure angle (WDA), road bank angle and body-to-road angle. 
       FIG. 3A  is an end view of an on-camber divergent vehicle tendency. 
       FIG. 3B  is an end view of an automotive vehicle in an off-camber divergent condition. 
       FIG. 3C  is an end view of a vehicle in an on-camber convergent condition. 
       FIG. 3D  is an end view of a vehicle in an off-camber convergent condition. 
       FIG. 4A  is a block diagram of a stability control system. 
       FIG. 4B  is a block diagram of the controller  26  used in the stability control system depicted in  FIG. 4A . 
       FIG. 5  is a block diagrammatic view of the unit  27  depicted in  FIG. 4B , which is used for quantitatively and qualitatively determining rollover trend of a vehicle. 
       FIG. 6  is more detailed view of the sensitizing and desensitizing block of  FIG. 5 . 
       FIG. 7  is a plot of wheel departure angle versus time for normal conditions and for those of the present embodiment. 
       FIG. 8  is flow chart of the operation of one embodiment of sensitizing according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
       FIG. 9  is flow chart of the operation of one embodiment of desensitizing according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
       FIG. 10  is a flow chart illustrating exiting a proportional peak hold strategy. 
       FIG. 11  is a flow chart illustrating the timing of active wheel lift detection. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   In the following figures the same reference numerals will be used to identify the same components. The present teachings may be used in conjunction with a yaw control system or a rollover control system for an automotive vehicle. However, the present teachings may also be used with a deployment device such as airbag or roll bar. 
   Referring to  FIG. 1 , an automotive vehicle  10  on a road surface  11  with a safety system is illustrated with the various forces and moments thereon. Vehicle  10  has front right and front left tires  12   a  and  12   b  and rear right tires and rear left tires  13   a  and  13   b , respectively. The vehicle  10  may also have a number of different types of front steering systems  14   a  and rear steering systems  14   b  including having each of the front and rear wheels configured with a respective controllable actuator, the front and rear wheels having a conventional type system in which both of the front wheels are controlled together and both of the rear wheels are controlled together, a system having conventional front steering and independently controllable rear steering for each of the wheels, or vice versa. Generally, the vehicle has a weight represented as Mg at the center of gravity of the vehicle, where g=9.8 m/s 2  and M is the total mass of the vehicle. 
   As mentioned above, the system may also be used with active/semi-active suspension systems, anti-roll bar or other safety devices deployed or activated upon sensing predetermined dynamic conditions of the vehicle. 
   The sensing system  16  is part of a control system  18 . The sensing system  16  may use a standard yaw stability control sensor set (including lateral acceleration sensor, yaw rate sensor, steering angle sensor and wheel speed sensor) together with a roll rate sensor and a longitudinal acceleration sensor. The various sensors will be further described below. The wheel speed sensors  20  are mounted at each corner of the vehicle, and the rest of the sensors of sensing system  16  may be mounted directly on the center of gravity of the vehicle body, along the directions x,y and z shown in  FIG. 1 . As those skilled in the art will recognize, the frame from b 1 , b 2  and b 3  is called a body frame  22 , whose origin is located at the center of gravity of the car body, with the b 1  corresponding to the x axis pointing forward, b 2  corresponding to the y axis pointing off the driving side (to the left), and the b 3  corresponding to the z axis pointing upward. The angular rates of the car body are denoted about their respective axes as ω x  for the roll rate, ω y  for the pitch rate and ω z  for the yaw rate. The calculations set forth herein may take place in an inertial frame  24  that may be derived from the body frame  22  as described below. 
   The angular rate sensors and the acceleration sensors are mounted on the vehicle car body along the body frame directions b 1 , b 2  and b 3 , which are the x-y-z axes of the vehicle&#39;s sprung mass. 
   The longitudinal acceleration sensor  36  is mounted on the car body located at the center of gravity, with its sensing direction along b 1 -axis, whose output is denoted as a x . The lateral acceleration sensor  32  is mounted on the car body located at the center of gravity, with its sensing direction along b 2 -axis, whose output is denoted as ay. 
   The other frame used in the following discussion includes the road frame, as depicted in  FIG. 1 . The road frame system r 1 r 2 r 3  is fixed on the driven road surface, where the r 3  axis is along the average road normal direction computed from the normal directions of the four-tire/road contact patches. 
   In the following discussion, the Euler angles of the body frame b 1 b 2 b 3  with respect to the road frame r 1 r 2 r 3  are denoted as θ xr ,θ yr  and θ zr , which are also called the relative Euler angles. 
   Referring now to  FIG. 2 , the relationship of the various angles of the vehicle  10  relative to the road surface  11  is illustrated. One angle is a wheel departure angle θ wda , which is the angle from the axle or the wheel axis to the road surface  11 . Also shown is a reference road bank angle θ bank , which is shown relative to the vehicle  10  on a road surface. The vehicle  10  has a vehicle body  10   a  and vehicle suspension  10   b . The relative roll angle θ xr  is the angle between the wheel axle and the body  10   a . The global roll angle θ x  is the angle between the horizontal plane (e.g., at sea level) and the vehicle body  10   a.    
   Referring now to  FIG. 3A , vehicle  10  is illustrated in an on-camber divergent state. The on-camber divergent state refers to the vehicle having a greater than zero wheel departure angle, a greater than zero relative roll angle, and a moment represented by arrow  25  tending to increase the relative roll angle and the wheel departure angle. In this example, the bank angle is less than zero. 
   In  FIG. 3B , when the bank angle is greater than zero, the wheel departure angle is greater than zero, the relative roll angle is greater than zero and the moment is also to the right or increasing the relative roll angle and the wheel departure angle, the vehicle is in an off-camber divergent state. 
   Referring now to  FIG. 3C , a bank angle of less than zero, a wheel departure angle greater than zero, and a relative roll angle greater than zero is shown with a roll moment  25  acting to the left. Thus, the vehicle is in an on-camber convergent state. That is, the convergent state refers to the vehicle tending towards not overturning. 
   Referring now to  FIG. 3D , when the bank angle is greater than 0, the wheel departure angle is greater than zero, and the relative roll angle is greater than zero and the roll moment is tending to the left, the vehicle is in an off-camber convergent state. That is, the vehicle is tending toward not rolling over. 
   Referring now to  FIG. 4A , one embodiment of a roll stability control system  18  is illustrated in further detail having a controller  26  used for receiving information from a number of sensors which may include a yaw rate sensor  28 , a speed sensor  20 , a lateral acceleration sensor  32 , a roll rate sensor  34 , a steering angle sensor (hand wheel position)  35 , a longitudinal acceleration sensor  36 , and steering angle position sensor  37 . 
   In one embodiment, the sensors are located at the center of gravity of the vehicle. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the sensors may also be located off the center of gravity and translated equivalently thereto. 
   Lateral acceleration, roll orientation and speed may be obtained using a global positioning system (GPS). Based upon inputs from the sensors, controller  26  may control a safety device  38 . Depending on the desired sensitivity of the system and various other factors, not all the sensors  20 ,  28 ,  32 ,  34 ,  35 ,  36 , and  37 , or various combinations of the sensors, may be used in a commercial embodiment. Safety device  38  may control an airbag  40 , an active braking system  41 , an active front steering system  42 , an active rear steering system  43 , an active suspension system  44 , and an active anti-roll bar system  45 , or combinations thereof. Each of the systems  40 - 45  may have their own controllers for activating each one. As mentioned above, the safety system  38  may be at least the active braking system  41 . 
   Roll rate sensor  34  may sense the roll condition of the vehicle based on sensing the height of one or more points on the vehicle relative to the road surface. Sensors that may be used to achieve this include a radar-based proximity sensor, a laser-based proximity sensor and a sonar-based proximity sensor. 
   Roll rate sensor  34  may also sense the roll condition based on sensing the linear or rotational relative displacement or displacement velocity of one or more of the suspension chassis components which may include a linear height or travel sensor, a rotary height or travel sensor, a wheel speed sensor used to look for a change in velocity, a steering wheel position sensor, a steering wheel velocity sensor and a driver heading command input from an electronic component that may include steer by wire using a hand wheel or joy stick. 
   The roll condition may also be sensed by sensing the force or torque associated with the loading condition of one or more suspension or chassis components including a pressure transducer in active air suspension, a shock absorber sensor such as a load cell, a strain gauge, the steering system absolute or relative motor load, the steering system pressure of the hydraulic lines, a tire lateral force sensor or sensors, a longitudinal tire force sensor, a vertical tire force sensor or a tire sidewall torsion sensor. 
   The roll condition of the vehicle may also be established by one or more of the following translational or rotational positions, velocities or accelerations of the vehicle including a roll gyro, the roll rate sensor  34 , the yaw rate sensor  28 , the lateral acceleration sensor  32 , a vertical acceleration sensor, a vehicle longitudinal acceleration sensor, lateral or vertical speed sensor including a wheel-based speed sensor, a radar-based speed sensor, a sonar-based speed sensor, a laser-based speed sensor or an optical-based speed sensor. 
   Based on the inputs from sensors  20 ,  28 ,  32 ,  34 ,  35 ,  36 ,  37 , controller  26  determines a roll condition and controls any one or more of the safety devices  40 - 45 . 
   Speed sensor  20  may be one of a variety of speed sensors known to those skilled in the art. For example, a suitable speed sensor  20  may include a sensor at every wheel that is averaged by controller  26 . The controller  26  translates the wheel speeds into the speed of the vehicle. Yaw rate, steering angle, wheel speed and possibly a slip angle estimate at each wheel may be translated back to the speed of the vehicle at the center of gravity. Various other algorithms are known to those skilled in the art. For example, if speed is determined while speeding up or braking around a corner, the lowest or highest wheel speed may not be used because of its error. Also, a transmission sensor may be used to determine vehicle speed. 
   Referring now to  FIGS. 4A and 4B , controller  26  is illustrated in further detail. There are two major functions in controller  26 : the rollover trend determination, which is called a sensor fusion unit  27 A, and the feedback control command unit  27 B. The sensor fusion unit  27 A can be further decomposed as a wheel lift detector  50 , a transition detector  52  and a vehicle roll angle calculator  66 . 
   Referring now to  FIG. 5 , the sensor fusion unit  27 A is illustrated in further detail. The sensor fusion unit  27 A receives the various sensor signals,  20 ,  28 ,  32 ,  34 ,  35 ,  36 ,  37  and integrates all the sensor signals with the calculated signals to generate signals suitable for roll stability control algorithms. From the various sensor signals wheel lift detection may be determined by the wheel lift detector  50 . Wheel lift detector  50  includes both active wheel lift detection and passive wheel lift detection, and wheel grounding condition detection. Wheel lift detector is described in co-pending U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/400,375 filed Aug. 1, 2002, and U.S. patent application number 7,109,856, which are incorporated by reference herein. The modules described below may be implemented in hardware or software in a general purpose computer (microprocessor). From the wheel lift detection module  50 , a determination of whether each wheel is absolutely grounded, possibly grounded, possibly lifted, or absolutely lifted may be determined. Transition detection module  52  is used to detect whether the vehicle is experiencing aggressive maneuver due to sudden steering wheel inputs from the driver. The sensors may also be used to determine a relative roll angle in relative roll angle module  54 . Relative roll angle may be determined in many ways. One way is to use the roll acceleration module  58  in conjunction with the lateral acceleration sensor. As described above, the relative roll angle may be determined from the roll conditions described above. 
   The various sensor signals may also be used to determine a relative pitch angle in relative pitch angle module  56  and a roll acceleration in roll acceleration module  58 . The outputs of the wheel lift detection module  50 , the transition detection module  52 , and the relative roll angle module  54  are used to determine a wheel departure angle in wheel departure angle module  60 . Various sensor signals and the relative pitch angle in relative pitch angle module  56  are used to determine a relative velocity total in module  62 . The road reference bank angle block  64  determines the bank angle. The relative pitch angle, the roll acceleration, and various other sensor signals as described below are used to determine the road reference bank angle. Other inputs may include a roll stability control event (RSC) and/or the presence of a recent yaw stability control event, and the wheel lifting and/or grounding flags. 
   The global roll angle of the vehicle is determined in global roll angle module  66 . The relative roll angle, the wheel departure angle, and the roll velocity total blocks are all inputs to the global roll angle total module  66 . The global roll angle total block determines the global roll angle θ x . An output module  68  receives the global roll angle total module  66  and the road reference bank angle from the road reference bank angle module  64 . A roll signal for control is developed in roll signal module  70 . The roll signal for control is illustrated as arrow  72 . A sensitizing and desensitizing module  74  may also be included in the output module  68  to adjust the roll signal for control. 
   In the reference road bank angle module  64 , the reference bank angle estimate is calculated. The objective of the reference bank estimate is to track a robust but rough indication of the road bank angle experienced during driving in both stable and highly dynamic situations, and which is in favor for roll stability control. That is, this reference bank angle is adjusted based on the vehicle driving condition and the vehicle roll condition. Most importantly, when compared to the global roll estimate, it is intended to capture the occurrence and physical magnitude of a divergent roll condition (two wheel lift) should it occur. This signal is intended to be used as a comparator against the global roll estimate for calculating the error signal, which is fed back to roll stability controller  26 . 
   Referring now to  FIG. 6 , the operation of the sensitizing/desensitizing module  74  is described in further detail. In this module, the needed control effort used in the roll stability control RSC system is sensitized by deliberately increasing certain thresholds, boosting certain signals and holding certain variables in order to cope with scenarios where the vehicle is in divergent roll trend; the control effort used in RSC is desensitized by deliberately decreasing certain thresholds, exiting holding mode and inserting hysteresis in certain variables in order to cope with the scenarios where the vehicle is not in divergent roll trend but the vehicle sensors cannot distinguish such no-divergent roll trend with the divergent or unstable dynamics. In summary, the sensitization is used to boost the control effort in the side of the vehicle needed, and desensitization is used to detune the control effort in the un-needed side so as to reduce false activations in non-rollover events. 
   The module has various external inputs that include a relative roll angle θ xr  input  80 ; a roll signal for control θ rsfc  input  82 ; a roll rate ω x  input  84 ; a wheel departure angle θ wda  input  86 , a first transitional flag input  88  for left to right transition denoted as T( 0 ) and a second transitional flag  90  denoted as T( 1 ) for right to left transition. The transitional flags are set as the vehicle change from a right to left turn and a left to right turn. The generation of the transitional flags is described in provisional application No. 60/401,416 which is incorporated by reference herein. Other inputs include a final wheel lift status flags input  92  that is denoted by S wld (i). The final wheel lift status flag is set so: 
   If the ith wheel is absolutely grounded, then S wld (i)=ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED
         If the ith wheel is in the edge of grounding, S wld (i)=POSSIBLY_GROUNDED   If the ith wheel is absolutely lifted, then S wld (i)=ABSOLUTELY_LIFTED   If the ith wheel is in the edge of lifting S wld (i)=POSSIBLY_LIFTED   If the ith wheel&#39;s status cannot be firmly identified, S wld (i)=NO_INDICATION   Other inputs include a reference bank angle input  94  denoted as θ refbank  and a global roll angle input  96  θ x      The outputs of the module  74  include a wheel departure angle output  98  denoted by θ wda , a roll signal for control output  100  denoted by θ rsfc , a proper-peak-hold flag: output  102  denoted by F PPH , a reference bank angle output  104  denoted θ refbank  and a pre-lift sensing flag output  106  denoted by F PLS .       

   Predefined Calibratable Parameter Definitions 
   The module  74  also includes various parameters and thresholds that are defined as follows:
         Θ sensitize : the threshold for the relative roll angle used for sensitizing wheel departure angle during transitional maneuvers. Default value used in the present example=45% of roll gradient.   α: percentage of relative roll angle boosted for roll signal for control during double wheel lift events.   Θ wheel-normal-condition : the threshold for the relative roll angle for starting the computation of the wheel departure angle during normal driving condition. Default value used in the present example=75% of the roll gradient.   Θ non-transition : the threshold for the relative roll angle used in starting to adjust the reference bank during non-transitional maneuvers. Default value used in the present example=80% of roll gradient.   ΔΘ: the threshold for wheel departure angle drop during to sequential loops used for exiting proportional peak hold mode in PID controller. Default value used in the present example=4 degree.   Ω PPH : threshold for the roll angular rate in order to enter proportional peak hold mode. Default value=used in the present example 16 degree per second.   Θ PLS : the threshold for the wheel departure angle in order to start the pre-lift sensing. Default value used in the present example=1 degree.   T: the threshold for the drive torque at a wheel to start the pre-lift sensing.       

   Sensitization 
   Referring now to  FIG. 7 , the starting point of computing the wheel departure angle is assumed to be at the time instant where one of the tires is at the edge of losing its normal load, or at the edge of being lifted. The exact time, however, is not typically detectable. Considering all the uncertainties in a vehicle, the approximated timing may be identified based on the wheel lift detection and the vehicle roll information. As shown in  FIG. 7 , the time instant where the tire is about to lift is illustrated as t 0 , then before t 0  at time t 01 , the wheel departure angle must have negative value. The wheel departure angle is reset to zero when the computation start. Thus if the computation is started at a time instant earlier than t 0 , the negative wheel departure angle due to tire compression (usually around 1 degree) will be added to the computed wheel departure angle to effectively boost the wheel departure angle. This sensitizes the wheel departure angle. If the start timing for computing wheel departure angle is later than t 0  at time t 02 , the magnitude of the calculated wheel departure angle will be less than the magnitude of the actual value, hence desensitizes the wheel departure angle. 
   Referring now to  FIG. 8 , if the vehicle is near wheel lifting in step  120 , in step  122  the transitional flags are monitored. The vehicle left to right transitional or right to left transitional flags are set to be active due to a dynamic transitional maneuver of the vehicle. In such a case, the vehicle may have a very large roll rate and hence a high roll trend. In this case any late computation of the wheel departure will desensitize the control effort which will have adverse control effect. Hence in this case the wheel departure angle computation is sensitized such that a needed control effort can be boosted. 
   
     
       
             
             
           
             
             
           
             
             
           
             
             
           
             
             
           
             
             
           
             
             
           
         
             
                 
                 
             
           
           
             
                 
               if ( (T(0) = 1 &amp; &amp; θ xr  ≧ Θ sensitize ) 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               ∥ (T(1) == 1 &amp; &amp; θ xr  ≦ −Θ sensitize ) 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               { 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               Compute wheel departure angle; 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               } 
             
             
                 
               else if the normal conditions are met 
             
             
                 
               { 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               Exit computing wheel departure angle; 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               } 
             
             
                 
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   The relative roll angle is determined in step  124 . Notice that if the normal condition for computing wheel departure starts at a relative roll magnitude Θ normal , then the threshold Θ sensitize  for sensitizing wheel departure angle during transitional maneuver could be as small as 50% of Θ normal . In step  126  the transitional flags are monitored and the relative roll angle θ xr  exceeds or is equal to the sensitizing threshold and the left to right transition flag is set or the right to left transition flag is set and the relative roll angle θ xr  is less than or equal to a negative Θ sensitize  threshold. The boosted wheel departure angle is obtained by starting the calculation earlier than at a nominal time t 0  as described above in step  128 . The boosted wheel departure angle will add certain amount of roll angle to the final roll signal for control θ rsfc , hence help increase certain amount of control effort. 
   If the wheel lift detection methods identify that two wheels at the inside of a turn are both lifted in step  130 , then the vehicle is in a progressive rollover event. In this case significant control effort is required in order to fully control the vehicle body such that rollover can be prevented. One sensitizing method is to further boost the roll signal for control as in step  132  as set forth in the following: 
                                                                                   if((S wld (0) == 1 &amp; &amp;S wld (2) == 1 &amp; &amp;θ xr  &gt; 0)                ∥(S wld (1) == 1 &amp; &amp;S wld (3) == 1 &amp; &amp;θ xr  ≦ 0))                {                θ rsfc  = θ rsfc  + α% * θ xr ;                }                        
where α is the percentage of the desired boost. The default value in this example is 10.
 
   In step  134  whether the vehicle is bouncing is determined. When the vehicle has very large roll angle together with a large magnitude of the roll rate during last second, the vehicle will be in a potential bouncing mode. In this case a proportional peak hold of the brake pressure (roll control effort) is conducted. A proportional control term is calculated in: 
                                                                                   if (vehicle is in bouncing mode)           {                Proportianl_control_term=K p θ rsfc-peak                  }           else           {                Proportianl_control_term=K p θ rsfc                  }                        
where θ rsfc-peak  is the peak value of the roll signal for control during a specific period of time in step  136 .
 
   Desensitization 
   Referring now to  FIG. 9 , as mentioned above it may also be desirable to desensitize the system in certain situations. For example, during a transitional maneuver, the roll signal for control θ rsfc  will be reduced to relative roll angle θ xr  if the wheel lift detection algorithms identify that the two wheel at the inside of a turn are absolutely grounded. In this case, the vehicle is not in any roll divergence and the roll angle between the vehicle body and the road surface is exactly the relative roll angle θ xr . Since usually θ xr  alone will not be able to initiate PID control, hence resetting θ rsfc  to θ xr  will exit RSC control. This is set forth in step  140  by first determining if the vehicle is in a transitional maneuver. If the inside wheels are absolutely grounded in step  142  (and there is some roll angle in the right direction) then the roll signal for control is set to the relative roll angle in step  144 . 
   
     
       
             
             
           
             
             
           
             
             
           
             
             
           
             
             
           
         
             
                 
                 
             
           
           
             
                 
               if( (T(0) == 1 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               &amp; &amp;S wld (1) == ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED 
             
             
                 
               &amp; &amp;S wld (3) == ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED 
             
             
                 
               &amp; &amp;θ xr  ≦ 0) 
             
             
                 
               (T(1) == 1 
             
             
                 
               &amp; &amp;S wld (0) == ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED 
             
             
                 
               &amp; &amp;S wld (2) == ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED 
             
             
                 
               &amp; &amp;θ xr  &gt; 0) ) 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               { 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               θ rsfc  = θ xr  + θ wda  = θ xr ; 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               } 
             
             
                 
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   During non-transitional maneuver, the roll signal for control θ rsfc  will be reduced to relative roll angle θ xr  if the wheel lift detection algorithms identify that one of the two inside wheels at a turn is absolutely grounded. In this case, the vehicle is not in any roll divergence and the roll angle between the vehicle body and the road surface is exactly the relative roll angle θ xr . Since usually θ xr  alone will not be able to initiate PID control, hence resetting θ rsfc  to θ xr  will exit RSC control. This is carried out in step  140  when there is no transitional maneuver. In step  146  whether one of two inside wheels is grounded is determined. If one of the two inside wheels are grounded, step  144  is again executed in which the roll signal for control is set to the relative roll angle. This is set forth in the following code. 
   
     
       
             
             
           
             
             
           
             
             
           
             
             
           
             
             
           
             
             
           
             
             
           
             
             
           
             
             
           
         
             
                 
                 
             
           
           
             
                 
               if( (T(0) == 0 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               &amp; &amp;(S wld (1) == ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               ∥ S wld (3) == ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED) 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               &amp; &amp;θ xr  ≦ 0) 
             
             
                 
               (T(1) == 0 
             
             
                 
               &amp; &amp;(S wld (0) == ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               ∥ S wld (2) == ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED) 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               &amp; &amp;θ xr  &gt; 0) ) 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               { 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               θ rsfc  = θ xr  + θ wda  = θ xr ; 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               } 
             
             
                 
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   In non-transitional maneuver, the reference bank is updated when the magnitude of the relative roll angle is less than a Θ non-transition  threshold, which is larger than the Θ wda-normal-condition  threshold in step  148 . Hence there is a gap of the relative roll angle which is used to provide certain hysteresis in reference bank angle computation. If the magnitude of the relative roll angle is under the Θ non-transition  threshold but greater than Θ wda-normal-condition , even wheel departure angle is already starting to be computed, the reference bank angle will wait until the relative roll angle exceeds Θ non-transition  threshold to be adjusted, and hence the roll signal for control to be adjusted. That is, the reference road bank θ ref  is set to the maximum of the global roll angle θ x -θ xss  or the previously determined reference bank angle. This is set forth in the following code: 
                                                                                                                           if (( θ xr  &lt; −Θ non-transition                  &amp; &amp; ( S wld (1)!= ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED                ∥ S wld (3) != ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED ) )                ∥ ( θ xr  ≧ Θ non-transition                  &amp; &amp; ( S wld (0)!= ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED                ∥ S wld (2) != ABSOLUTELY_GROUNDED ) )                {                θ ref-bank  = max( θ x  − θ xss ,θref-bank);                }                        
where θ xss =θ x −θ xr −θ wda .
 
   Referring now to  FIG. 10 , in step  162  if the incremental correction for the wheel departure angle for two sequential loops exceeds certain magnitude ΔΘ (default value=4 degree), the RSC will exit proportional peak brake pressure holding by resetting the flag F PPH  to zero in step  164 . In step  162  the previous wheel departure angle is subtracted from a current wheel departure angle. In this case, the self adjusting feature of the wheel departure angle computation implies that the vehicle is not in a divergent roll motion, hence holding brake pressure will cause the driver an un-easy feeling. Exiting enforced proportional peak hold pressure will allow the roll information of the vehicle to set the control effort to appropriate level. 
                                                               if (|θ wda (k)−θ wda (k − 1)| &gt; ΔΘ)           {                F PPH  = 0;                }                        
where θ wda (k) denotes the current value of the wheel departure angle and θ wda (k−1) denotes the past value of the wheel departure angle.
 
   In step  166 , if the vehicle roll rate does not exceed a threshold Ω PPH  (16 degree/sec in the present example) within last 1 second, the vehicle is identified as not in the bouncing mode. Hence proportional peak hold will be ended in step  164 . In this case, there is no need to hold brake pressure. Exiting enforced proportional peak hold pressure will allow the roll information of the vehicle to set the control effort to appropriate level. 
   
     
       
             
             
           
             
             
           
             
             
           
         
             
                 
                 
             
           
           
             
                 
               if (|ω x | &lt; Ω PPH  during last 1 second) 
             
             
                 
               { 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               F PPH  = 0; 
             
           
        
         
             
                 
               } 
             
             
                 
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   Referring now to  FIG. 11 , it may be desirable to start active wheel lift detection early. Although the passive wheel lift detection is performed all the time, the active wheel lift detection is conditionally performed. For example, only if the RSC enters PID control mode the active wheel lift detection is activated. Since the PID control is related to roll trend conditioned by the wheel lifting information and there is a delay between the beginning of the active detection and the time when the detection resets the flag, there may be cases where a long lasting un-necessary activation from the PID controller is performed. The active wheel lift detection may thus be performed before the PID controller is activated. The delay due to the active wheel lift detection consequently may be removed. This implies the need for an earlier active wheel lift detection, which may be called pre-lift sensing. That is before entering the PID control mode and the transitional control mode, the active wheel lift detection will start to proceed under certain conditions. One of the conditions is dependent on the wheel departure angle. If the wheel departure angle is greater than certain threshold and the driving torque at the axle is below certain threshold in step  170 , a prelifting flag is set in step  172 , the active wheel lift detection will request engine torque reduction or provide a pressure command to the wheel in step  174 . In this manner, un-necessary false activations can be avoided or the false activation can be shorted in duration. The logic can be expressed as in the following: 
                                                               if (|θ wda | &gt; Θ PLS  &amp; &amp; τ drive  ≦ T)           {                F PLS  = 1;                }                        
where F PLS  is the flag for pre-lift sensing, i.e, F PLS =1 will initiate pre-lift sensing, and τ drive  is the drive torque at the interested wheel.
 
   As is described above, various ways of sensitizing or desensitizing roll control are described. Depending on the various system requirements one, some or all of the ways may be implemented in a commercial embodiment. 
   While the invention has been described in connection with one or more embodiments, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to those embodiments. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents, as may be included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 1