Observer based Control for Railway Vehicles with Driven Independently Rotating Wheels Front-Rear Comparison on a 1:5 Scale Test Rig

Driven Independently Rotating Wheels offer significant performance benefits, but achieving stable and effective control requires accurate estimation of lateral displacement of the wheel carrier. This paper presents a simple, tunable two-step observer that addresses this challenge, integrated with a cascaded PI-PD control system for enhanced performance. Additionally, we examine the distinct stability conditions of the front and rear wheel carriers and demonstrate how these differences affect both observer and controller design. The proposed approach is validated on a 1:5 prototype developed by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), showcasing its effectiveness in real-world applications.