See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/267624854

ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451 smart sensor network for the evaluation of motorcycle

suspension systems

Article in IEEE Sensors Journal · October 2014

DOI: 10.1109/JSEN.2014.2363945

CITATIONS READS

16 763

5 authors, including:

Consolatina Liguori Vincenzo Paciello

Università degli Studi di Salerno Università degli Studi di Salerno
207 PUBLICATIONS 2,924 CITATIONS 133 PUBLICATIONS 1,285 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Antonio Pietrosanto P. Sommella

Università degli Studi di Salerno Università degli Studi di Salerno
260 PUBLICATIONS 3,877 CITATIONS 125 PUBLICATIONS 1,195 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

UNCERTAINTY IN ACOUSTIC MEASUREMENT View project

Magnetorheological damper system for motorbikes View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Vincenzo Paciello on 08 January 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451 Smart Sensor Network for the
Evaluation of Motorcycle Suspension Systems
C. Liguori, IEEE, Member, V. Paciello, IEEE, Senior Member, A. Paolillo, IEEE, Member, A. Pietrosanto, IEEE,
Senior Member, P. Sommella, IEEE, Member.
Department of Industrial Engineering (DIIn) - University of Salerno, via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, Fisciano (SA) - Italy,
e-mail: vpaciello@unisa.it
Abstract — Smart sensors and transducers are being widely
employed in the development of electronically controlled systems
such as advanced suspensions in order to improve the
performance guaranteed by terrestrial vehicles. Nevertheless, a
standard reference for the full exploitation of the smart features
is not yet extensively adopted. The CAN-bus is only used for the
communication functionalities within a sensor network, resulting
in cost-effective and more reliable connections. An original data
driven approach, based on both the CAN-bus and the IEEE
ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451 Standard, is proposed for the
characterization of suspension systems of two-wheel vehicles with
regard to the comfort and vehicle handling. Thanks to the
ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451, the data acquired from sensor are sent by
means of a GPS-GPRS module to PC software that implements
the processing algorithm. The proposed methodology includes a
low cost measurement set-up, data processing algorithms in both
time and frequency domain and the introduction of model-free
synthetic indexes in order to experimentally compare the on-road
behavior influenced by different damping characteristics for the
suspension system. The method is applied to the on-road
verification of the riding comfort assured by different control
strategies for semi-active suspensions.
Keywords — ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451, Sensor interface and
architecture, vehicle technology, sensor data processing,
performance evaluation, smart sensor, communication protocol.
I. INTRODUCTION
Riding comfort and vehicle handling are strongly
influenced by the behavior of the suspension system, which
emerges as one of the most critical subsystem. Suspensions
guarantee the contact between the vehicle tires and the road
and isolate the vehicle body from road roughness at the same
time [1]. The design of the damping characteristics of the
passive (hydraulic type) suspension is always the result of a
trade-off between the ability to isolate the vibration and vehicle
handling: minimization of suspension travel cannot be
accomplished with a simultaneous maximization of the ride
comfort. This problem is even more important for motorcycles,
since they are much more sensitive than other vehicles, both to
the load variations and to the shocks caused by the road
asperities [2]-[4]. In this framework, semi-active suspensions
have received a lot of attention since they provide the best
compromise between cost (energy consumption, actuators,
sensors hardware) and performance (safety and comfort
requirements) [5]. They typically allow to adjust the damping
force as a function of vehicle dynamics and riding style. Thus,
the research has been directed toward the development of new
technologies for the realization of the damping elements (linear
solenoid valves, rheological dampers) and the introduction of
control strategies [6]-[12] (based on analytical models, Fuzzy
Logic, Neural Networks and so on), whose effectiveness is
typically assessed through the adoption of numeric simulations.
On the other hand, a well-established measurement procedure
for motorcycle is missing and then comparisons between
different strategies can rarely be based on the same
performance indices, measured with the same method.
Instead, a detailed design phase and/or a relevant
comparison between available solutions should always be
accompanied by a procedure for the characterization of
suspension systems through road tests that allow to highlight
the impact on the actual behavior of the motorcycle in terms of
comfort and handling.
In this work, starting from the measurement station and
preliminary investigation presented in [13]-[14], the authors
introduce a Sensor Network based on ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451
[15] for the suspension characterization in terms of both the
vehicle comfort and handling. The main adoption of the
sensors and data processing is the on-road comparison between
different suspension systems and between different damping
control algorithms. To this aim, suitable performance indexes
are proposed which take into account the measurement
information provided by a cost-effective sensor architecture.
Thus, the paper is organized as follows: after a brief
introduction to the ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451 standard, the
suspension dynamics is firstly introduced with reference to the
mostly-adopted vehicle model, as well as main literature
concerned with the riding comfort and vehicle handling is
revisited with focus on two-wheeled vehicles. Then, the
proposed methodology for carrying out the road tests is
detailed in terms of the measurement set up and main metrics,
upon which the performance estimation is based. Finally, an
example of comparison is reported, with reference to a
Magneto-Rheological (MR) semi-active suspension system
[16]-[18].
II. THE STANDARD ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451
The ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451 standard is a set of smart
transducer interface standards developed by the IEEE
Instrumentation and Measurement Society’s Sensor
Technology Technical Committee. They describe a set of open,
common, network-independent communication interfaces for
connecting transducers (sensors or actuators) to
microprocessors, instrumentation systems, and control/field
networks. The smart transducer concept has been established
by the ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451 standard to simplify the scalability
of networked electronic equipment. One of the main topic is
the definition of the Transducer Electronic Data Sheet (TEDS).
Either the TEDS can reside in embedded memory, typically an
EEPROM, within the transducer itself which is connected to
the measurement instrument or control system, or a virtual
TEDS can exist as a data file accessible by the measurement
instrument or control system. A virtual TEDS extends the
standardized TEDS to legacy sensors and applications where
embedded memory may not be available.
Transducers Signal conditioning
(sensors or Analog-to-Digital conversion or
actuators) Digital-to-Analog conversion
Smart Transducer Interface Module (STIM)
Application Network
Algorithm Communication
Network Capable Application Processor (NCAP)
Network
Fig. 1 Smart-sensor partitioning as described in IEEE 21451.
Partitioning the sensor as shown in Fig. 1 effectively enables a
compliant-sensor module from any manufacturer to plug into a
compliant network-interface module from any other
manufacturer. The network-interface module may support
Ethernet, Profibus, or another type of connectivity. In addition,
the ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451 framework proposes a standard
Transducer Electronic Data Sheet (TEDS), to be contained
within the transducer module, which describes the transducer to
the host network. The resulting unit comprising the smart-
sensor and network-interface modules is capable of connecting
directly to the network as a plug-and-play unit. This can reduce
human error when connecting sensors to the network, simplify
installation and maintenance of smart-sensor networks, and
allow sensors to be replaced or upgraded quickly and easily
with minimal downtime.
To go beyond the previous definitions, an
ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451 smart transducer is defined as a smart
transducer that provides functions beyond those necessary for
generating a correct representation of a sensed or controlled
quantity. This functionality typically simplifies the integration
of the transducers into applications in a networked
environment. This means ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451 smart
transducers would have capabilities for self-identification, self-
description, self-diagnosis, self-calibration, location-awareness,
time-awareness, data processing, reasoning, data fusion, alert
notification (report signal), standard-based data formats and
communication protocols. The purpose of the
ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451-001 is to define a standardized and
universal framework that allows smart transducers to extract
features of the signal being generated and measured. With the
definition of these practices, the raw data can be converted into
information and then into knowledge. In this context,
knowledge means understanding of the nature of the transducer
signal. This understanding can be shared with the system and
other transducers in order to form a platform for sensory
knowledge fusion. This recommended practice defines signal
processing algorithms and data structure in order to share and
to infer signal and state information of an instrumentation or
control system. These algorithms are based on their own signal
and also on the transducers attached to the system.
III. OVERVIEW OF SUSPENSION DYNAMICS
A suspension is, generally, studied by means of a simplified
model of the vehicle: the two degree-of-freedom quarter car
model (QCM) [19], known also as Single-corner model.
As reported in Fig. 2, the vehicle is schematized by the
sprung mass that includes the sprung parts (for a motorcycle,
the equivalent half vehicle mass), M, and the unsprung mass
(for a motorcycle tire mass, wheel mass and brake system
mass), m. For simplicity, the tire may be schematized by a
spring with kt stiffness whereas its damping is considered
negligible. The suspension is modeled by a spring, K, a shock
absorber c, with C0 damping coefficient, and a force generator,
Fd, that models the suspension reaction. Said:
- yr the vertical displacement imposed by the road;
- yt the vertical displacement of the unsprung mass, m;
- ys the vertical displacement of the sprung mass, M;
the state equations of system can be expressed by:
M ⋅ &y& s + K (y s − y t ) + C 0 (y& s − y& t ) + Fd = 0
m ⋅ &y& t + k t (y t − y r ) − K (y s − y t ) − C 0 (y& s − y& t ) − Fd = 0 (1)
In order to better explain the influence of the suspension
characteristics on the vehicle dynamics, the analysis of the
expected behavior is briefly reported when riding on
concentrated obstacles. More in detail, Fig. 3 depicts the
typical response of the motorcycle to a single step road profile
(height h = 0.06 m) as function of the front damper
characteristic. Three damping coefficients are denoted as soft,
medium and hard configuration (C0 equal respectively to 200,
400 and 700 Ns/m) whereas the following set of parameters are
adopted for numerical simulation: M = 100 kg, m= 21 kg, K =
30 kN/m, kt = 167 kN/m.
Fig. 3.a shows the front body acceleration (i.e. the vertical
acceleration experienced by the driver at the handlebar): the
soft-damping tuning (green line) gives the smallest acceleration
peak, but the largest settling oscillation; in opposition, the hard-
damping tuning gives the highest acceleration peak, but almost
no settling oscillation. The typical trade-off of passive
suspension, embodied by the opposite results in terms of
acceleration peaks and variance, is also highlighted by the
response of the suspension stroke and wheel load force to the
step excitation (see Fig. 3.b-c). As expected, the soft-damping
tuning shows a good behavior in the first part of the transient:
the largest amount of the suspension stroke is adopted when the
step is encountered in order to attenuate the acceleration peak.
Unfortunately, a badly undamped behavior is evident in the
final part of the transient: because of the settling oscillations
after the acceleration peak, the tire eventually looses the
contact with the road during the experiment. The hard-damping
tuning produces a complementary behavior in terms of
suspension stroke and road-tire contact. Analogous
observations are reported in [20] where the measured response
of the stroke suspension is also considered when the
motorcycle negotiates a road bump. Thus, the vertical
acceleration of the sprung mass,
 and the vertical contact
force between road and tire are the more significant quantities
for suspension analysis, which also drives the design of control
algorithms for semi-active suspensions. For example, the ideal
concept of Sky-Hook damping assumes that the shock absorber
can deliver a force proportional to the chassis speed only: it is
typically approximated using two-state (switching) or linear
(continuously variable) shock absorbers. Linear and two-state
 Fig. 2. Quarter car model: kt stiffness tire’s spring, K, C, Fd stiffness of the spring, damping coefficient and reaction force of the suspension
system.

SH algorithms have a strongly empirical flavor, but they are ground input disturbance caused by road roughness is of great
widely used since they are simple and provide good results. interest in this evaluation. The ground inputs are, generally,
A different approach (named Acceleration Driven classified as shock or vibration. Shocks are discrete events of
Damping, ADD) has been also proposed on a theoretical basis,
rooted on optimal control theory. It has been shown that SH
and ADD have complementary characteristics: SH provides
large benefits around the first (body) resonance and otherwise
performs similarly to a passive suspension. More recently, a
new algorithm called Mix-SH-ADD control has been
introduced [20], which can reach almost-optimal performance,
while maintaining the simplicity of SH and ADD.
Further refinements are possible with more comprehensive
measures, where the interdependence between various modes
of vibration, such as heave and pitch is also highlighted (with
reference to Half-Car Model of the in-plane dynamics). As an
example, in [21] a control strategy (hereinafter, named Pitch
Driven Damping, PDD) is disclosed for jointly controlling both
the front and rear suspension: it adopts the pitch information
and suspension stroke as frequency-range selector for
dynamically modifying the damper stiffness.

IV. COMFORT AND VEHICLE HANDLING: DEFINITION AND

MEASUREMENT
Independently from the adopted manufacturing technology
(hydraulic vs electrically controlled dampers) and
design/control approach, the evaluation of the on-road behavior
guaranteed by the suspension system involves the clear
definition of performance criteria, typically referring both to
vehicle comfort and handling. The former feature depends on
many factors (e.g. noise, luminosity, ergonomics), but within
the field of interest (suspension system) only on the vibration
levels transmitted to the passenger due to the road roughness
are considered. The handling represents the ability to keep the
vehicle in contact with the road, even in the presence of
different forces and momentums that originate in various
inertial and aerodynamic loadings, as caused by braking,
turning and wind gusts. In the following the traditionally
adopted estimates for comfort and handling are reported mainly
focusing on the measurement approaches suggested for two-
wheeled vehicles.
A. Comfort evaluation
Fig. 3. Motorcycle passing over a road step: numerical result according to
In literature, there are some methods for the evaluation of Quarter Car Model
the comfort due to mechanical vibrations. The definition of the
relatively short duration and high intensity, such as those
caused by a pronounced bump. The vibrations are due to the
normal road roughness, which is typically represented as a
random process [22]. In order to evaluate them, the
international standards [23]-[25] propose to use the rms of the
acceleration after a suitable weighting procedure able to
evidence the frequency components that are more annoying for
the passengers. The defined weighting curves depend on the
position and the direction of the measured acceleration. Indices
are defined considering the rms in the last time window, the
travelling rms, of the triaxial acceleration defined as
combination of the measured accelerations in the three
dimensions:
 =  , +  , +  , (2)
- aw,z, aw,y e aw,z, are the weighted accelerations in the three
dimensions;
- k , k , k  are factors defined by the standard; for an
example, the ISO 2631 suggest k  =1, k =1.4, k =1.4.
From this, the Maximum Transient Vibration Value
(MTVV) is defined as the maximum rms value evaluated in the
considered time interval:
 = , ( ) (3)
Another performance index is the Vibration Dose Value,
VDV, that is defined as:
& ! " $
 = #  ( )% (4)
" 
It is used, generally, to evaluate the comfort with reference
to the shock caused by a concentrated obstacle (TS=
observation window).
More strictly related with the motorcycle field, the vertical
chassis response to road disturbances between 0 and 20 Hz is
proposed in [6] as a measurement of the acceleration felt by the
driver; nevertheless, the evaluation of the frequency response
of the vehicle is not easy to be determined, since the road
profile is required to be known.
In [14] several indices are used for the on-road
characterization of scooters in terms of vibrational comfort.
The indices are compared with the subjective perceptions of
some drivers. The measurement set-up comprises tri-axial
accelerometers (placed on handlebar under driver’s left hand;
on footplate under driver’s left foot; under the seat) and a
magnetic proximity sensor for vehicle speed (placed on the rear
brake disk).
The acquired signals are processed in frequency and time
domain in order to calculate the following indices:
i) The rms average values of the triaxial accelerations,
measured on handlebar, footplate and seat; they are
combined into a global index that represents the average
value of the three indexes.
ii) The same procedure of (i) is followed on the three
weighted [23]-[25] accelerations obtaining an average
index taking into account the human frequency
sensitivity.
iii) The VDV calculated when the driver passes over a
concentrated obstacle.
B. Vehicle handling
As previously introduced, the handling describes the ability
of vehicles in traction, breaking and cornering. About the
former feature, the handling is mainly focused on the road
holding with reference to the ability of reduce the fluctuations
of the contact force between tire and pavement. Thus, the main
goal is minimizing the variations in the normal tire loads. A
widely used index is the standard deviation of the above force.
Another performance parameter is the rms of the signal
difference between the vertical displacement imposed by the
road and the vertical displacement of the tire (with reference to
Fig. 1 yr-yt)
In [6] a measurement of the road holding is considered as
the integral between 0 and 30Hz of the vertical wheel
deflection response, in the frequency domain, to road
disturbances.
Vehicle handling also aims to both maintain a constant
height above the ground of the suspended masses and reduce
the load transfer in correspondence of riding maneuvers.
Some papers report simulation results, modeling the vehicle
and applying known road displacements to the models, or using
proper test benches. Experimental tests are very problematic,
both in recognizing the road profile and in estimating some
state variable (e.g. dynamic tire load or tire deflection).
V. THE COMPARISON METHODOLOGY
The proposed methodology intends to overcome the
measurement limitations of the automotive approaches due to
equipment complexity of the vehicle probe, availability of
testing facilities, testing typologies and indicators derived from
a full-car vehicle. It results into a straightforward application
for motorcycles, thanks to: i) low cost and easy calibration of
the sensor architecture, ii) ease of carrying out the tests, iii)
proposal of performance indexes robust with respect to the
influence (environmental) conditions.
A. Sensor Architecture
A sensor network is proposed according to the
ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451 standard. Each sensors installed on the
motorbike has a microcontroller to implement the CAN
protocol, the communication based on ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451
format and the TEDS.
As data-driven (and model-free) approach, the testing
methodology combine multiple sources of information. With
the aim to obtain an inexpensive measurement arrangement, the
following sensors are considered (see the installation scheme
reported in Fig. 4):
- the single-axis accelerometer Shandle is fixed to the
handlebar, so that the measurement axis (Ah) is coincident
with the vertical symmetry axis of the front fork/shock
absorber;
- the single-axis accelerometer Sseat is fixed to the motorcycle
frame, so that the measurement axis (As) is coincident with
the vertical symmetry axis of the rear shock absorber;
- the position sensor Sfront is coupled to the telescopic fork/
shock absorber in order to provide the front suspension
stroke (Sf);
- the position sensor Srear is coupled to the rear shock
absorber in order to measure the corresponding stroke (Sr);
- the three-axial gyroscope Gyro is fixed to the motorcycle
frame, providing measurement of pitch, Spitch, and roll,
Sroll [31].
In order to achieve a more reliable and easy to maintain
architecture, all the previous sensors are connected by CAN-
Bus, a suitable firmware has been developed for each sensor
node, which is compliance with the ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451 [26].
Moreover, the Transducer Electronic Data Sheets (TEDS) has
been added to the memory of the sensor node to allow a
plug&play sensors. A GPS-GPRS module was used to connect
the ECU to the internet network.
The proposed measurement station is different from what
indicated in [13]-[14] and from what suggested by the standard
ISO 2631, because the testing activity mainly aims to isolate
the comfort contribution of the damping characteristics. Since
Shand is very close to hand position and Sseat is close to the seat,
their measured values can give an indication of, respectively,
the hand transmitted and the whole-body vibrations. Moreover,
the gyro is included also to estimate the vehicle stability.
B. The Proposed Test
As for the experimental tests, suitable reference routes
should be considered, including:
a) an uneven pavement (cobblestone), in order to mainly
introduce pitch excitation;
b) a stretch of rough urban road, typically negotiated at
constant speed (accordingly the motorcycle receives a
mixed pitch-heave excitation simultaneously, on a broad
spectrum);
c) a stretch of extra-urban road, typically negotiated at high
(increasing) speed, which mainly introduces heavy (pure
vertical) excitation;
d) a region with multiple speed bumps, in order to better
estimate the vehicle handling against concentrated
obstacles;
e) a stretch of a corner including a speed bump, in order to
better estimate the vehicle handling (namely the influence
of damping on the load transfer).
C. Sensor Data Processing
The signals acquired in repeated tests on the five paths may be
processed in order to calculate several indices useful in
estimating the ride comfort and the vehicle handling. More in
detail, the signals measured by the accelerometers have to be
filtered by means of a bandpass filter, since the dc component
typically arises both from the measurement of gravitational
Fig. 4 The Measurement Set-up.
force and the alignment of the accelerometers. Moreover, the
vibrations due to the engine rotation can alter the measured
index value. Some solutions may be exploited in order to
define the best band-pass filter, since the frequencies of
interest are very low [27][28][29]: a seven degree Butterworth
filter may be typically adopted.
According to the proposed testing methodology, three
indices are introduced in order to measure the comfort
performance of a suspension system:
(i) The power spectrum of the accelerometers Shandle and
Sseat are evaluated and the integral between 0 and 30 Hz are
calculated, Ihandle an Iseat, respectively. From these two values a
global index is obtained:
'( = (')*+,-. + '.*/ )⁄2. (5)
It can be observed that the measured values may slightly
change as a function of three main processing parameters: the
used window function, the time interval for the average, the
overlap between the time intervals.
(ii) The accelerations measured on sensors Shandle and Sseat
are again considered in terms of the rms average values,
awhandle, awseat, and used for calculating a global index:
2 = (2)*+,-. + 2.*/ )⁄2
(6)
Also for this index, the influence of the time interval on the
average values has to be deeply investigated.
(iii) The VDV is evaluated considering only the data
acquired when the motorcycle is on the concentrated obstacles
(test on the road track d). In particular, the outputs of the two
sensors Shandle and Sseat are considered and the VDVi (i= handle,
seat) is evaluated as the mean value of the corresponding
quantity calculated for each obstacle according to Eq. (4).
Finally, the global index is the mean value of the normalized
indices on Shand and Sseat,
 = ()*+,-. + .*/ )⁄2
(7)
 Response of Suspension Stroke to Road Bump (height h)

30 Si
Suspension Stroke [mm]

20

10
Si

-10

-20

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

Time [ms]
Fig. 5. Response of Suspension Stroke to road Bump (height h)
(iv) About the road holding, a synthetic parameter is
derived from the previously introduced analysis of the expected
behavior when riding on concentrated obstacles. More in detail,
two indexes HIi (i= front, rear) are defined in order to take
simultaneously into account the stroke travel and settling
oscillations when a concentrated obstacle height h is
encountered (see Fig. 5):
56∗86
3'4 = (8)
)9

where ∆Si is the maximum suspension stroke experienced
(for example the maximum compression travel when passing
over bump) and σSi represents the standard deviation of the
stroke (measured after the first oscillation). Finally, a synthetic
index HI is calculated to take into account the motorcycle road-
holding assured by both the front and rear suspension:
3' = :3';<=+/ + 3'<.*< >⁄2
(9)
Main advantage of the adoption of HI index is the choice to
perform the estimation based only to measurement information
(the amount of the suspension stroke may be derived through
suitable integration of the signals provided by accelerometers)
without any knowledge of model parameters (as necessary
when the wheel load approach is carried out).
(v) The PRD is evaluated as the standard deviation of the
pitch velocity σpitch acquired during the passing over an
obstacle (and normalized with respect to the observed peak).
The mean of the obtained results on each obstacle is
considered.
(vi) The RRD is evaluated as the standard deviation of the
roll signal Sroll acquired during the passing over an obstacle,
and an average value on the four bumps is considered. A very
significant indication of the vehicle handling is the RRD
evaluated during the test of case (e), namely for an obstacle
located into a turn.
VI. EXAMPLE OF USE
In order to show the effectiveness of the proposed
approach, a test motorcycle (Suzuki GSX-1000R-k6 model
Fig. 6. Characteristic Damping Curve (Force vs Velocity) for suspension
under test: a) rear damper; b) front shock damper (blue line: HARD set-up;
green line: MEDIUM set-up; red line: SOFT set-up; magenta area: SEMI-
ACTIVE operating range).
type) has been featured with an electronically controllable
suspension system including Magneto-Rheological front and
rear shock [18]. Main goal of the testing activity has been the
performance comparison among four different kinds of
damping tuning, briefly reported in Fig. 6 (where the
corresponding characteristic curves in the velocity-force
domain are shown) both for the front and rear suspension:
positive velocities refer to the suspension compression,
whereas negative ones refer to suspension rebound.
More in details, the SOFT, MEDIUM and HARD set-up
refer to traditional passive suspension (respectively linear
dampers characterized by lowest, intermediate and highest
damping coefficient), whereas the fourth set-up refers to the
exploitation of SEMI-ACTIVE suspension according to the
Pitch Driven Damping algorithm [30].
Both for the front and the rear shock absorber, the damping
coefficient is controlled in real-time as a function of suspension
stroke and pitch rate. Consequently, the highlighted areas in the
velocity-force domain result as the extended operating regions
of the SEMI-ACTIVE set-up.
According to the proposed methodology, the test
motorcycle has been equipped with the five smart sensors
whose characteristics are briefly reported in Table I.
A test lap (approximated length = 8 km) has been
considered (see Fig. 7) which includes:

Table I Main characteristics of the Sensor Architecture

Sensor Type sensor Manufacturer Name Range Output Type Bandwidth
magnetostrictive MTS Sensors Temposonics
Sfront [0-109] mm Analog 2.6 kHz
position sensor CS-109AVH2
magnetostrictive MTS Sensors Temposonics
Srear [0-162] mm Analog 2.6 kHz
position sensor CS-162AVH2
Sfandle, Sseat Mems ST Microeletronics LIS331HH ±6 g Digital 16 bit 500 Hz
Gyro Mems ST Microeletronics L3G4200D 250 dps Digital 16 bit 800 Hz
 a) a cobblestone for a length of about 50 m; time control, which is addressed to maintain the damping
coefficient as low as possible.
b) a stretch of rough urban road, negotiated at average speed
equal to 50 km/h; More in details, statistical relevance (satisfying
c) a stretch of extra-urban road, negotiated at average speed repeatability) has been observed for the Ias and awRMS: a class
equal to 90 km/h, separation clearly corresponding to different set-up may be
d) a region with 4 speed bumps (30 m equidistant from each derived by taking into account mean value and standard
other). deviation (increasing value for both indexes as harder damping
A test session has been completed by running N=30 laps is considered); the Ias is also able to better discriminate
(mean lap time equal to 500 s). between the soft damper characteristic and PDD strategy.
Similar results also hold for the VDV index: greater
A. Indexes evaluation and Discussion
As an example, the power spectrum of the measured
handlebar acceleration (Shand sensor) is depicted in Fig. 8 with
reference to the different damping set-up. More in details, the
following parameters have been suitably adopted for the signal
processing (as result from sensitivity analysis): Hanning
window, time interval = 10 s, interval overlap = 75%.
The spectrum highlights the main frequency ranges of
interest for the motorcycle vibrations (briefly reported in Table
II), which are transmitted to the rider.
As you may note, the largest acceleration peaks are associated
to the HARD tuning (blue profile), mainly for the vibration
arising from the unsprung mass and frame. This behavior may
be revealed by the comfort indexes Ias and awRMS, which both
take into account the broad spectrum of accelerations.
About the VDV index, focus has been devoted to the
acceleration transients corresponding to the passing over Fig. 7. The test lap with different road surfaces.
bumps (1.5 s as time interval TS for data processing).
Table III summarizes the experimental results with reference to acceleration (transmitted both to the handle and seat) have been
the damping tuning of interest about the three proposed measured during riding over a bump when higher coefficients
comfort indexes (N=30 runs of the test lap). As expected, the are adopted. Nevertheless, VDV reveals to be very sensitive to
SOFT tuning is able to achieve better comfort performance the observed acceleration peaks and underestimates the
than MEDIUM and HARD tuning. Moreover, SEMI-ACTIVE damping changing (soften) typically assured by the PDD at the
suspension revealed to be the best solution thanks to the real- transient decay.

Table II Typical Frequency Range for Motorbike Vibrations

Motorcycle element Frequency Range [Hz]
Sprung Mass 0÷3.5
Unprung Mass 7÷13
Frame 20÷28
Engine 90÷180

Fig. 8. Example of Power Spectrum from measured (Shandle) acceleration

 Table III Comfort Performance: Index comparison
SOFT Set-up Semi-Active Set-up MEDIUM Set-up HARD Set-up
INDEX Unit
Mean Std Mean Std Mean Std Mean Std
Ias [m2/s5] 4.32 0.08 4.63 0.07 5.02 0.09 5.22 0.08
awRMS [m/s2] 4.75 0.11 4.93 0.09 5.35 0.13 5.62 0.12
VDV [m/s2] 15.5 0.2 16.4 0.2 16.8 0.3 18.0 0.4

Table IV Handling Performance: Index comparison

SOFT Set-up MEDIUM Set-up Semi-Active Set-up HARD Set-up
INDEX Unit
Mean Std Mean Std Mean Std Mean Std
H.I. - 0.100 0.003 0.086 0.004 0.077 0.002 0.070 0.004
PRD - 0.260 0.08 0.248 0.004 0.233 0.002 0.225 0.004

About the calculation of both handling indexes HI and
PRD, focus has been devoted to the signal transients
(respectively the suspension strokes and pitch rate) arising
from bumps (height h =0.03 m and TS = 1.5 s).
As an example, the measured stroke for the front shock
absorber is depicted in Fig. 8, as well as the parameters of
interest. Table IV summarizes the results for both the handling
indexes. Again, a statistically relevant discrimination has been
observed. As expected, the HARD tuning (corresponding to the
lowest mean values) is able to outperform the MEDIUM and
SOFT set-up in both road holding and pitch rate indexes.
Moreover, the road test highlights the capabilities of the real-
time control (SEMI-ACTIVE suspension), which aims to
assure higher damping coefficients, when greater wheel load
and pitch mitigation are demanded to match the road profile.
VII. CONCLUSIONS
A low-cost sensor architecture is proposed for the
experimental evaluation of both the ride comfort degree and the
vehicle handling of motorcycles. The architecture complies
with ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451 and adopts the CAN-Bus for the
communication among the sensor nodes and the Electronic
Control Unit (ECU). The architecture has also a GPS-GPRS
module and the whole system is monitored by a software
application running on a PC [32]. The PC software
communicates with ECU and reads information for all sensors.
On the basis of the measurement information, data processing
in both time and frequency domain is introduced: the
acceleration, stroke and pitch signals are exploited for the
calculation of ad-hoc indices. Main application of the testing
methodology is an accurate comparison of different suspension
systems and/or damping control algorithms through the cost-
effective road testing. Experimental results from the
comparison between different passive suspensions and a semi-
active control strategy confirm the statistical reliability of the
proposed indices for discriminating the expected behavior.
More in details, the integral of acceleration power spectrum,
the standard deviation for the measured suspension stroke and
pitch rate have been emerged as strictly correlated to the
comfort, road holding and vehicle stability respectively.
Further research will be addressed to an extended
measurement campaign in order to deeply investigate the
sensitivity of the proposed indexes to the environmental
conditions. Moreover, a deeper investigation will be carried out
about the relation between the motorcycle speed and the
synthetic index based on acceleration rms to improve the time
domain analysis and corresponding results.
In the next future, the authors will also include the two
actuators present on the motorbike (namely the two
Magnetorheological dampers) in the network based on the
ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451, with the aim to change in real-time the
characteristics of the dampers (for example MEDIUM, HARD
and SEMI-ACTIVE).
Finally, the adoption of three-axial accelerometers and
signal weighting according to the ISO-Standards will be
included in the proposed methodology, when the goal of the
on-road validation is the comparison between different semi-
active control policies, which typically aim to the optimization
of the vehicle comfort as whole.
REFERENCES
[1] F. Baronti, F. Lenzi, R. Roncella, R. Saletti, O. Di Tanna, “Electronic
control of a motorcycle suspension for preload self-adjustment”, IEEE
Transactions on Industrial Electronics, Vol. 55 no.7, pp. 2832-2837,

Fig. 9. Response of Front Suspension Stroke to a Road Bump (blue line: HARD set-up; green line: MEDIUM set-up; red line: SOFT set-up; magenta line:
SEMI-ACTIVE strategy).
 2008.
[2] D. Yuan, X. Zheng, Y.F. B. Yang, “Modeling and simulation of
motorcycle ride comfort based on bump road”, Advanced Materials
Research, Vol. 139-141, pp. 2643-2647, 2010.
[3] C. Spelta, D. Delvecchio, S.M. Savaresi, “A comfort oriented control
strategy for semi-active suspensions based on half car model”, ASME
2010 Conference, DSCC20102, pp. 835-840, 2010.
[4] A. Doria, L. Trombetta, R. Pegoraro, “Identification and significance of
the first structural modes of vibration of two wheeled vehicles”, ASME
2010 Conference, pp. 271-280, 2010.
[5] C. Poussot-Vassal, C. Spelta, O. Sename, S.M. Savaresi, L., Dugard,
“Survey and performance evaluation on some automotive semi-active
suspension control methods: A comparative study on a single-corner
model”, Annual Reviews in Control, Vol. 36 no.1, pp. 148-160, 2012.
[6] V. Cossalter, "Suspension Overview", in Motorcycle Dynamics.
Greenade, WI: Race Dynamics Inc., 2002, pp. 140-156.
[7] J. Sun, Q. Yang, “Compare and Analysis of Passive and Active
Suspensions under Random Road Excitation”, Proceedings of the IEEE
International Conference on Automation and Logistics, 2009.
[8] D. Hrovat, “Survey of advanced suspension developments and related
optimal control applications”, Automatica, Vol. 33 no.10 1781–1817,
1997.
[9] E. Guglielmino, T. Sireteanu, C. W. Stammers, G. Ghita, M. Giuclea,
“Semi-active Suspension Control” ISBN 978-1-84800-230-2, DOI
10.1007/978-1-84800-231-9.
[10] C. Poussot-Vassal, C. Spelta, O. Sename, S.M. Savaresi, L., Dugard, “A
methodology for optimal semi-active suspension systems performance
evaluation “, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, pp. 2892-2897.
[11] H. Y. Hu, J. Q. Yi, D. L. Guo, "Neutral network control for a semi-
active vehicle suspension with a Magnetorheological Damper," Journal
of Vibration and Control, Vol. 3, no. 10, pp. 461-471, 2004.
[12] G. Yang, Y. Zhao, “Fuzzy control of vehicle suspension system”,
Advanced Materials Research Vol. 383-390, pp. 2012-2017, 2012.
[13] M. Pezzola, S. Agostoni, F. Cheli, "Objectification of the subjective
riding comfort perception of motorcycles: experimental analysis and
international standards procedures", 19th Mediterranean Conference on
Control and Automation, 2011, pp. 928-933.
[14] C. Liguori, V. Paciello, A. Paolillo, A. Pietrosanto, P. Sommella,
“Characterization of Motorcycle Suspension Systems: Comfort and
Handling Performance Evaluation”, 2013 IEEE Instrumentation and
Measurement Technology Conference, pp. 444-449, 2013.
[15] M. Sveda, R. Vrba “Integrated smart sensor networking framework for
sensor-based appliances”, Sensors Journal, IEEE, Vol. 3, no.5, pp. 579-
586, October 2003.
[16] G. Acocella, R. Anchini, V. Paciello, A. Pietrosanto, P. Sommella, "A
new approach to magnetorheological damping control" Instrumentation
and Measurement Technology Conference (I2MTC), 2010 IEEE,
pp. 908-912, Austin (TX), 3-6 May 2010.
Consolatina Liguori (M '99) was born in Solofra
(AV), Italy, in 1969. She received the M.S. degree in
Electronic Engineering from the University of Salerno,
Italy, in 1993, and the Ph. degree at the University of
Cassino, Italy, in 1997. In 1997 she joined the
Department of Industrial Engineering of the University
of Cassino as an Assistant Professor of Electrical and
Electronic Measurements. In 2001 she became
Associate Professor of Electrical and Electronic Measurements. In 2004 she
joined the University of Salerno. Since 2012, she is Full Professor of
Electrical and Electronic Measurements. Her main interests are in the field of
image-based measurement systems and Digital Signal Processing,
measurement characterization, instrument fault
detection and isolation.
Vincenzo Paciello (M'08-SM’13) was born in Salerno, Italy,
in 1977. He received the M.S. degree in electronic engineering
and the Ph.D. degree in information engineering from the
University of Salerno, Fisciano, Italy, in 2002 and 2006,
respectively. Since 2008, he is an Assistant Professor of
electrical and electronic measurements with the University of
[17] V. Paciello, A. Pietrosanto, "Magnetorheological Dampers: A New
Approach of Characterization”, IEEE Transaction on Instrumentation
and Measurement Vol. 60, no. 5, 2011, 1718 – 1723.
[18] V. Paciello, P. Sommella, “Smart sensing and smart material for smart
automotive damping “Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine, IEEE
Vol. 16, no. 5, pp 24-30, October 2013.
[19] J. Yao and J. Zheng, "Semi-active suspension system design for quarter-
car model using model reference sliding mode control," in IEEE
Conference on Vehicular Electronics and Safety, 2006, 398-402.
[20] S.M. Savaresi, C. Spelta.,"A Single-Sensor Control Strategy for Semi-
Active Suspensions", IEEE Transaction Control System Technology,
Vol. 17, no. 9, 2009, pp.143-152.
[21] European Patent N° 2250038, "Method and Apparatus for controlling a
semi-active suspension system for a motorcycle", European Patent
Register (www.epo.org).
[22] L. Balogh, A. Meszaros-Komaromy, L. Palkovics, "Road Surface
Estimation for control system of Active suspension," Department of
Automobiles, University of Technology and Economics, Budapest 2010.
[23] International Standard, ISO 2631-1, 1997.
[24] International Standard, ISO 5349:2001, 2001.
[25] British Standard BS 6841:1987, 1987.
[26] C. L. Kyung, H. K. Man, L. Suk, “ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451 based smart
module for in-vehicle networking systems of intelligent vehicles”,
Industrial Electronics Society, 2003. IECON '03, Hong Hee Lee, The
29th Annual Conference of the IEEE, Vol. 2, pp. 1796-1801, 2-6
November 2003.
[27] G. Acocella, C. Liguori,V. Paciello, A. Paolillo, “Real-time detection of
resonant frequency in semi-active suspension systems”, Instrumentation
and Measurement Technology Conference (I2MTC), 2011 IEEE, 485-
490, Binjiang, 10-12 May 2011.
[28] C. Liguori, V.Paciello, A.Paolillo, A. Pietrosanto, “Detection of low
frequency components in real-time”, Instrumentation and Measurement
Technology Conference (I2MTC), 2012 IEEE, pp. 1163-1167, Graz, 13-
16 May 2012.
[29] C. Liguori, V.Paciello, A.Paolillo, A. Pietrosanto, “Real-Time Detection
of Low-Frequency Components” IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation
and Measurement, Vol. 62, no. 5, 2013, pp 1118-1129.
[30] C. Liguori, V.Paciello, A.Paolillo, A. Pietrosanto, “On Road Testing of
Control Strategies for Semi-Active Suspensions”, Instrumentation and
Measurement Technology Conference (I2MTC), 2014 IEEE, pp. 1187-
1192, Montevideo Uruguay, 12-15 May 2014.
[31] A.R. Schofield, A.A. Trusov, A.M. Shkel, “Effects of Operational
Frequency Scaling in Multi-Degree of Freedom MEMS Gyroscopes”,
Sensors Journal, IEEE, Vol. 8, no. 10, pp.1672–1680, October 2008.
[32] A.R. Al-Ali, I. Zualkernan, F. Aloul “A Mobile GPRS-Sensors Array for
Air Pollution Monitoring”, Sensors Journal, IEEE, Vol. 10, no. 10,
pp. 1666 – 1671, October 2010.
Salerno. He has been with the new Department of Industrial Engineering of
the same university since January 2011. His current research interests include
mechanical and electronic measurements, wireless sensor networks,
instrument interfaces, and digital signal processing for advanced
instrumentation.
Alfredo Paolillo (M'08) was born in Belvedere Marittimo,
Italy, in 1972. He received the M.S. degree in Electronic
Engineering and the Ph.D. degree in Information
Engineering from the University of Salerno, Fisciano, Italy,
in January 2000 and April 2004, respectively. He is an
Assistant Professor of Electronic Measurements with the
Department of Industrial Engineering (DIIn), University of
Salerno, Italy. His current research activities include image- and DSP-based
measurement systems, sensor characterization and uncertainty estimation.
Antonio Pietrosanto (M'99-SM’12) was born in Naples, Italy, in 1961. He
received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical
engineering from the University of Naples, Naples, in
1986 and 1990, respectively. Since 2001, he has been a
Full Professor of electrical and electronic measurements
with the Department of Industrial Engineering (DIIn),
University of Salerno, Salerno, Italy. His scientific interests are primarily image processing.
focused on sensor realization and characterization, wireless instrument
interface, digital signal and image processing, instrument fault detection and
isolation, and embedded systems.

Paolo Sommella (M'11) was born in Salerno, Italy, in

1979. He received the M.S. degree in electronic
engineering and the Ph.D. degree in information
engineering from the University of Salerno, Fisciano, Italy,
in 2004 and 2008, respectively. Since 2010, he is Research
Fellow with the University of Salerno. His current research
interests are instrument fault detection and diagnosis,
measurement in software engineering and biomedical

View publication stats