Optimizing the Driving Profile for Vehicle Mass Estimation -- extended version
Accurate mass estimation is essential for the safe and efficient operation of autonomous heavy-duty vehicles, particularly during transportation missions in unstructured environments such as mining sites, where vehicle mass can vary significantly due to loading and unloading. While prior work has recognized the importance of acceleration profiles for estimation accuracy, the systematic design of driving profiles during transport has not been thoroughly investigated. This paper presents a framework for designing driving profiles to support accurate mass estimation. Based on application-oriented input design, it aims to meet a user-defined accuracy constraint under three optimization objectives: minimum-time, minimum-distance, and maximum accuracy (within a fixed time). It allows time- and distance-dependent bounds on acceleration and velocity, and is based on a Newtonian vehicle dynamics model with actuator dynamics. The optimal profiles are obtained by solving concave optimization problems using a branch-and-bound method, with alternative rank-constrained and semi-definite relaxations also discussed. Theoretical analysis provides insights into the optimal profiles, including feasibility conditions, key ratios between velocity and acceleration bounds, and trade-offs between time- and distance-optimal solutions. The framework is validated through simulations and real-world experiments on a Scania truck with different payloads. Results show that the designed profiles are feasible and effective, enabling accurate mass estimation as part of normal transportation operations without requiring dedicated calibration runs. An additional contribution is a non-causal Wiener filter, with parameters estimated via the Empirical Bayes method, used to filter the accelerometer signal with no phase-lag.