A Study of Motion Evaluation and Control Systems using Jerk Information. 1st Report, A Jerk Sensor and its application to Vehicle Motion Control Systems.

The jerk (the time rate of change of acceleration) is one of the most important kinds of bodily sensitive information. In driving situation, when a vehicle accelerates or decelerates rapidly, skilled drivers can adaptively control the vehicle by perceiving wheel spin or wheel lock from subtle vehicle jerk information, rather than from wheel-speed information. This suggests that the performance of vehicle motion control systems, including the extent of "natural" feeling for drivers, can be improved by enabling the systems to detect jerk and/or acceleration information, and emulate responses of a skilled driver. We have developed a sensor for deriving the values of both acceleration and jerk by using the law of electromagnetic induction. This sensor performs well and has several potential applications. This paper introduces the principle and performance of jerk sensor, and also proposes other possibility of motion control systems using jerk information.