System and method for predicting and responding to soft underfoot conditions

Abstract

A soft underfoot conditions response system for use with a vehicle includes a plurality of sensors configured to transmit signals indicative of live data representing at least one of real time vehicle speed, vehicle acceleration, vehicle pose, vehicle payload, engine torque, engine power output, and engine RPM, and a controller communicatively coupled with the sensors. The controller is programmed to receive the live data, receive reference data representative of soft underfoot conditions from a database, and analyze the live data and the reference data. The controller determines a first set of parameters including measured real time values corresponding to wheel slip ratio and rolling resistance, vehicle speed, and vehicle pose, extracts from the reference data at least one of a first data subset containing vehicle operational parameters identified by an operator as being associated with soft underfoot conditions, and a second data subset containing data extracted using heuristics, and builds and trains a model for use by a classifier that segregates data subsets from the first set of parameters into a first classification that includes parameters that characterize surfaces with soft underfoot conditions, and a second classification that includes parameters that characterize surfaces without soft underfoot conditions. The controller also generates control command signals that cause a change in vehicle operational parameters to reduce or avoid any effects on operation of the vehicle associated with soft underfoot conditions.