5730 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 67, NO.
7, JULY 2018
Locomotive Wheel Slip Control Method Based
on an Unscented Kalman Filter
Petr Pichlik
Abstract—Railway traction vehicles transfer forces between
wheels and rails through an adhesion coefficient. The adhesion
coefficient value can decrease abruptly during the train run. There-
fore, the wheels can simply gain high value of the wheels slip ve-
locity. Thus, the vehicles are equipped with slip controllers for this
case. During the past decades, many types of slip control strategies
were developed, and the new methods are also developed today.
Some perspective methods are based on an estimation of the adhe-
sion coefficient or an adhesion force. However, correct operation
of these methods is not guaranteed in all cases. Moreover, these
methods have some weakness that can decrease their efficiency.
Therefore, a novel method based on the adhesion condition estima-
tion is presented in this paper. The adhesion condition is estimated
by an unscented Kalman filter. When the method is connected to
a controller, it is possible to eliminate the rising wheel slip velocity
at its beginning and limit it to the appropriate value. The output
of the method is directly used as an input of the controller without
any additional calculation as it is used in traditional methods. The
input signal does not need any additional filtration, and the method
does not require information about the actual train velocity for its
proper work. The verification of the method is done with the mea-
sured data that were measured on a freight train hauled by an
electric locomotive. This paper also presents simulation results of
the method with a controller based on the locomotive mathematical
model.
Index Terms—Adhesion, unscented Kalman filter, PI control,
rail transportation, velocity control.
I. INTRODUCTION
EQUIREMENTS for high force transfer between wheels
R and rails are placed to modern locomotives because they
have to reach high values of a tractive effort and high-speed.
However, the adhesion coefficient value limits the forces that
can be transferred between wheels and rails. Therefore, the
locomotive performance is limited by the adhesion [1]. Thus,
the maximum adhesion utilisation is required [2]. However, the
adhesion coefficient changes continuously during the train run
[3] and [4]. This can cause that a small wheel slip velocity, which
is needed for the force transfer between wheels and rails, can
change into a high wheel slip velocity or wheel spin suddenly.
Manuscript received July 25, 2017; revised January 13, 2018; accepted Febru-
ary 17, 2018. Date of publication February 21, 2018; date of current version
July 16, 2018. The review of this paper was coordinated by Prof. J. Wang.
(Corresponding author: Petr Pichlik.)
The authors are with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Czech
Technical University in Prague, Prague 16627 Czech Republic (e-mail:
pichlpet@fel.cvut.cz; zdenek@fel.cvut.cz).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TVT.2018.2808379
0018-9545 © 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
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and Jiri Zdenek
The high value of the slip velocity is undesirable because it
increases wear of wheel and rails, and it can cause damage to
some locomotive mechanical parts [5]. The high value of the
slip velocity occurs when the applied traction force exceeds the
maximal force that can be transferred between wheels and rails
through the adhesion coefficient. In this case, the wheel starts
to accelerate. In this case, a slip controller or protection has to
react and reduce the applied force to decrease the wheel slip
velocity to the acceptable value.
The speed of the freight trains is typically lower than pas-
senger trains. However, their weight and the required tractive
effort are higher. The high value of the required tractive effort
causes that the transferred force between wheels and rail is close
to the maximal transferable force [6]. Any adhesion coefficient
decrease causes the increase of the slip velocity. This situation
typically occurs when the train goes uphill or during adverse
conditions on the track surface when the adhesion coefficient
has low value. If the slip controller does not work correctly or
is not tuned properly, it delays detection of the high value of the
wheel slip velocity. Thus, the tractive effort has to be decreased
more to eliminate the high slip velocity. The result is a decrease
of a train longitudinal velocity. Furthermore, it can cause train
delay [7] or a train jamming on the track in an adverse condi-
tion. The similar problem can occur during a locomotive braking
using an electrodynamic brake.
Many slip control methods have been developed to avoid
these problems. Generally, the slip control methods can be di-
vided into the methods that suppress the high value of the slip
velocity, and the methods that try to determine the maximal
adhesion [8]. Some methods that try to determine the maximal
adhesion value are based on the wheel velocity or a wheel accel-
eration comparison [9]. Some methods use a wheel-rail contact
model to estimate the adhesion force [10]. Other methods eval-
uate a wheel-rail noise [11] or torsional vibrations that occur
during the high slip velocity [12]. Methods based on sliding
mode control are also used [13]. Modern slip control meth-
ods try to determine the position of the operating point on an
adhesion-slip characteristic or slope of the characteristic. The
slope of the adhesion-slip characteristic can be determined from
a phase shift between motor torque and its velocity [14] or by
the derivative of the adhesion coefficient according to a deriva-
tive of the slip velocity. The disturbance observers [15], [16]
 PICHLIK AND ZDENEK: LOCOMOTIVE WHEEL SLIP CONTROL METHOD BASED ON AN UNSCENTED KALMAN FILTER
and [17] are used for the adhesion coefficient or the adhesion
force estimation because these quantities cannot be measured
directly during the trains run [18]. The method described in [19]
uses a disturbance observer for the adhesion-slip characteristic
slope and a forgetting factor to cope with the noise. The adhe-
sion force can be estimated by an extended Kalman filter [20] or
unscented Kalman filter (UKF). This method is used in automo-
tive applications [21], [22] and [23] and for mobile robots [24]
applications. However, the UKF is not typically used for the
locomotive slip control. There is a difference between the slip
controller for locomotives and for automotive. The locomotives
have a lower adhesion coefficient due to the steel to steel contact
between wheels and rails and forces that are being transferred
are higher too. On the other hand, the side movements of loco-
motives can be neglected due to the rail guidance although they
arise. Therefore, in the automotive have to solve both the lon-
gitudinal slip and the sideslip. Moreover, some control methods
for automotive are based on specific behaviour, e.g., a determi-
nation of a tire cornering stiffness coefficient [25].
The proposed slip control method is based on the UKF that is
used as the estimator. The proposed slip control method elim-
inates the weakness of the classical methods by estimating the
relative adhesion force that does not require additional deriva-
tive or any other calculations. Therefore, the relative adhesion
force can be used as the controller input directly.
The rest of the paper is organised as follows. The proposed
slip control method is described in Section II. The adhesion and
basic related terms are described at the beginning as the basis of
the slip control method description. The adhesion phenomenon,
as well as its nonlinearity effects on the locomotive tractive
effort, is introduced in part too. Next, the UKF algorithm is
described. This description is done because the filter can be im-
plemented in different ways [26]. A mathematical model of one
wheelset is described in part III. A two-mass model and five-
mass model are used as the mathematical models. The two-mass
model is formed by an electric drive and a wheelset mechanic.
The model is derived from the five-mass model that is also de-
scribed in the paper. The two-mass system model for the UKF
is selected to enable implementation of the method into a digital
signal processor. The last part of the paper contains the simu-
lations that are based on the measured data and the five-mass
mathematical model. The method functionality is verified in
the simulations. Moreover, the simulation results are compared
with the measured data, and a controller performance is shown
for the five-mass mathematical model that provides sufficiently
accurate results.
II. SLIP CONTROL METHOD BACKGROUND
A. Adhesion and Slip Control
The proposed slip control method is based on the estimation
of the adhesion. Therefore, the adhesion is described first. The
force between wheels and rails are transmitted through an adhe-
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5731
Fig. 1. An example of the adhesion-slip characteristic.
sion coefficient. The adhesion coefficient is typically described
as a function of the slip velocity or a slip. The slip velocity is
defined as a difference between a wheel longitudinal velocity
and the wheel circumference velocity, and the slip is a ratio be-
tween the slip velocity and the wheel longitudinal velocity. The
wheel circumference velocity is higher than the wheel longitu-
dinal velocity in a traction mode. An example of the dependency
between the adhesion coefficient and a slip velocity, so-called
adhesion-slip characteristic, is depicted in Fig. 1. The character-
istic can be divided into a stable area and an unstable area. The
unstable area is unstable from the electric drive point of view.
The maximal point of the characteristic is located between the
areas. The shape of the adhesion-slip characteristic depends on
many parameters like conditions of a rail surface, weather, and
so forth.
The slip controller has to hold the operating point of the elec-
tric drive in the stable area or close to the maximum point in the
unstable area of the adhesion-slip characteristic. The operating
point moves to the unstable area of the adhesion-slip character-
istic when the applied tractive force is higher than the maximal
transferable force. The slip controller has to decrease the ap-
plied tractive force to return the operating point to the stable
area. Therefore, the slip controller cannot prevent the operating
point movement in the unstable area, but by the fast reaction,
can return the operating point to the stable area. Moreover, the
fast reaction avoids the movement of the operating point far
to the unstable area. If the operating point oscillates around the
maximal value, the slip-stick oscillations occur. The oscillations
cause, e.g., a noise [27]. The slip controller should avoid the os-
cillations. If the operating point gets to the unstable area, the slip
velocity starts to increase. The high value of the slip velocity is
undesirable, and the slip controller should avoid this situation.
If the high value of the slip velocity occurs, the tractive effort
has to be significantly decreased to reduce the slip velocity to
the acceptable value.
The value of the adhesion force depends on the adhesion
coefficient and a normal force that is applied to the wheel. The
 5732 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 67, NO. 7, JULY 2018

normal force changes during train motion. The changes occur,

e.g., due to the track irregularity [29]. Therefore, the adhesion
force estimation can be used instead of the adhesion coefficient
[15] because the adhesion force consists of the changes of the
adhesion coefficient and the adhesion force.

B. Proposed Slip Controller Principle

Some of the slip control methods are based on a derivative of
the adhesion coefficient to the slip velocity [28]. The derivative
is defined as:
dμ
=0 (1)
dvs
where μ is an actual adhesion coefficient value and vs is an
actual slip velocity. Fig. 2. An example of measured adhesion-slip characteristic [11].
The adhesion coefficient cannot be directly measured during
the train run. Therefore, an estimation of the adhesion coeffi-
cient has to be used. Observers or variants of Kalman filters are
used for this purpose. When the adhesion force is estimated,
the derivative according to (1) can be calculated. The deriva-
tive value changes with an operating point position change in
the adhesion-slip characteristic. The derivative is positive in the
stable area, and negative in the unstable area of the adhesion-slip
characteristic. At the top of the characteristic, the derivation is
equal to zero. A time derivation of the adhesion coefficient can
be used for simplification. The simplification is done because
the slip velocity has a small value and the slip velocity changes
during the acceleration. Therefore, it is hard to get the derivative
equal to zero [30]. The time derivation of the adhesion coeffi-
cient solves two problems that are related to the slip velocity.
The first problem is connected with the estimation of the train
velocity. It is difficult to determine the train velocity when all
wheels are driven because the measured wheel velocity is higher
than the train velocity about the slip velocity. When the deriva-
tion of the slip velocity is eliminated, accurate train velocity
knowledge is not required. The second problem is the division
by zero that can occur when the slip velocity has a constant
value.
If this method is tested on a mathematical model with a static Fig. 3. Demonstration of the classical method work.
adhesion-slip characteristic according to Fig. 1, the method
works as expected. However, when the measured data are used A simulation of the method function, which uses a derivation
as the input, the method can fail. The reason is the real adhesion- calculation, is shown in Fig. 3. The calculation is done from the
slip characteristic. The shape of the characteristic changes dur- measured data that were measured on a locomotive that hauls
ing the train runs [31]. Therefore, the slope of the adhesion-slip a freight train. A measured wheel velocity, train velocity, one
characteristic stable area changes and the slip velocity changes wheelset force and calculated adhesion force, and derivations
too. Measured adhesion-slip characteristics are published in of the estimated force are shown in the Fig. 3. The adhesion
[11], [31]. An example of the measured data from [11] is shown force was calculated by a first order disturbance observer [30].
in Fig. 2. If the operating point is fixed at some point in the The tractive force had a constant value. The train accelerates,
characteristic, the point oscillates around its position during the and the high slip velocity starts to appear from time 4.5 s. It is
train runs. In this case, the derivative can be positive, negative clear that the drop in the estimated adhesion force detects the
or zero, although the position is in the stable area. Moreover, wheel slip high value. The calculated derivation according to
the method can fail when the adhesion-slip characteristic has a (1) is mainly positive in part, where is not present high value
plateau instead of the peak [32]. of the slip velocity. It only oscillates around zero. The adhesion

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 PICHLIK AND ZDENEK: LOCOMOTIVE WHEEL SLIP CONTROL METHOD BASED ON AN UNSCENTED KALMAN FILTER
Fig. 4. The proposed slip control method block diagram and wheelset electri-
cal and mechanical part.
force derivation according to the time is smoother, but it oscil-
lates around zero too. This situation occurs due to adhesion-slip
characteristic changes. To eliminate the noise in the derivation
the wheel velocity signal has to be filtered. The filtration causes
additional time delay and a slip controller delay response.
Based on the previous conclusions a method based on the
UKF was designed. The proposed method eliminates the de-
scribed weakness of the classical methods. The main weakness
of the classical method is the calculation of the derivation of the
adhesion coefficient or adhesion force. Moreover, the derivation
is divided by the derivation of the slip velocity that can be zero.
Thus, the classical methods can fail. The result of the calculation
is noise signal that has to be filtered or, a controller reference
value has to be set to a higher offset. These modifications of
the output signal cause a delay of the slip controller response.
The proposed method does not directly estimate the actual value
of the adhesion coefficient or the adhesion force. The method
estimates a relative adhesion force. The estimated relative ad-
hesion force corresponds to the course of adhesion force in the
time, but not in absolute value. The estimated relative adhesion
force is shifted to zero in normal conditions, and become neg-
ative when the adhesion force starts decreasing. Therefore, the
estimated force can be used directly as the controller input with-
out derivation and any modification. The output of the method is
similar to the output calculated according to (1) that is presented
in [30].
The block diagram of the proposed slip control method and its
connection with the wheelset electrical and mechanical parts are
shown in Fig. 4. The wheelset mechanical and electrical system
block input is a tractive force FTractive , and the block output
is a wheel velocity vWheel . The block consists of an electric
drive controller, converter, electric motor, gearbox, wheelset
mechanics and wheel or motor speed measurement. The electric
drive controller controls the motor torque or speed. The velocity
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5733
Fig. 5. The proposed slip control method principle demonstration.
is led to the slip controller block. The slip controller block
consists of the UKF algorithm and the PI controller. The UKF
block estimates the relative adhesion force iFAdhesion . An error
value e, which is the input of the PI controller block, is calculated
as a difference between estimated relative adhesion force and
required relative adhesion force i∗ FAdhesion . The required tractive
force F ∗ tractive is multiplied by the PI controller block output, and
the result is the tractive force FTractive . The PI controller block
output is limited from 0 to 1. The required value of the relative
adhesion force is a small negative value close zero. The block
wheelset mechanical and electrical system can be represented
by the measured data or a mathematical model for a simulation
purpose. In a real application, the block will be represented by
a locomotive wheelset with an electric drive.
The principle of the method is demonstrated in Fig. 5. The
wheel velocity, train velocity, relative adhesion force and one
wheelset tractive force are shown in Fig. 5. When the wheel
velocity starts to increase the relative adhesion force starts to
decrease with a time delay. The time delay is caused by a UKF
setting. When the relative adhesion decreases below a required
relative adhesion force, a controller acts. The result is the high
value of the slip velocity suppression. The train velocity can
decrease during the action. The relative adhesion force is waved
because the wheel velocity is waved too.
The adhesion phenomenon is nonlinear, but the proposed
method output is linear. When the output value is zero or a
slightly negative, the operating point is in the stable area of
 5734 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 67, NO. 7, JULY 2018

the adhesion-slip characteristic. If the output is negative, the

operating point gets to the unstable area, and a controller reaction
is required. Basically, any type of controller can be used. The
well-known PI controller is used to demonstrate that the method
can correctly work even with a simple controller.

III. DESCRIPTION OF THE SYSTEM MATHEMATICAL MODEL

The UKF needs a mathematical model for its proper func-
tion [35]. The model describes a system that is estimated or
filtered by the UKF. A nonlinear discrete-time system can be
described as:

xk +1 = f (xk , uk ) + wk (2)
yk +1 = h(xk ) + vk (3) Fig. 6. The five-mass wheelset configuration.

Where xk is the state vector, f (xk , uk ) the nonlinear state

model, uk is the input vector, yk is the output vector, h(xk ) is
the measurement model, vk is the state noise, and wk is the
measurement noise.
The system model influences the UKF performance. There-
fore, it is needed to use the correct system model. The model
could describe all required system properties. However, the
system model affects the computational complexity of the whole
UKF. Therefore, the description has to be as simple as possible.
The used models can have different complexity. The model can
describe the whole locomotive or can be represented by a simple
model that uses a torque difference between motor and wheel
and angular momentum. The model complexity depends on a Fig. 7. The two-mass model with a speed sensor position.

purpose of the model usage. If simulations of the whole system

are required, e.g., behavioural study, then it is better to have
a model with higher complexity to capture all phenomena that
can occur. On the other hand, for a real-time calculation in a mi-
crocontroller, it is better to have a simpler model with sufficient
accuracy. The model that describes the locomotive wheelset is
used as the model for simulation purposes.
A. Wheelset Description
The used wheelset model describes Škoda 93E electric lo-
comotive wheelset configuration. The simplified wheelset con-
figuration is shown in Fig. 6. The wheelset consists of an elec-
tric drive, pinion, gear wheel and two wheels. This structure
can be described by a five-mass model as it is shown in the
Fig. 6. The masses are connected with shafts. The pinion and
gear wheel are connected differently through transmission teeth.
The five-mass model is used for numerical simulations. The
model is described in [36] in detail. Every mass has its mo-
ment of inertia J and rotates with an angular velocity ω. Masses
are connected by shafts that are represented by its elasticity c
and damping d. A subscript M indicates a mass connected to a
motor, P is pinion, GW is gear wheel, DD is a directly driven
wheel, and ID is an indirectly driven wheel. The electric drive
is represented by an electric motor and its power electronics.
Therefore, the electric drive is represented by the motor mo-
ment of inertia and time delay of the whole electric drive. Two
angular velocities are depicted between the connected masses in
Fig. 6. These two velocities are there because the actual velocity
of both masses can be different due to a shaft twist.
B. The Two-Mass Model
The five-mass model was used for the method verification
with a controller, and the model was used as a basis of a two-
mass model simplification that is used for the UKF. The UKF
with the two-mass model has lower computational complexity
than the five-mass model. However, the five-mass model can
provide higher accuracy and describe more phenomena. On the
other hand, some parts of the model are unobservable. The
unobservable parts of the system model are redundant for real-
time control. Therefore, the UKF with the two-mass model is
simpler for implementation into a digital signal processor, and
the calculation is less time-consuming.
The two-mass model was designed to preserve the main fea-
ture of the five-mass model. The two-mass model is shown in
Fig. 7. The electric drive forms one mass and the second mass
is created by a pinion, gear wheel and a wheel. The masses are
connected by a shaft that is represented by an elastic element.

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 PICHLIK AND ZDENEK: LOCOMOTIVE WHEEL SLIP CONTROL METHOD BASED ON AN UNSCENTED KALMAN FILTER 5735

Fig. 8. The five-mass and two-mass model comparison.

The model configuration is shown in Fig. 7 for a case when the

speed sensor is mounted on the directly driven wheel.
The two-mass model state vector is defined as:

x = [Δϕ, ω1 , ω2 , iF ]T (4) Fig. 9. Bode plots of the five-mass model and the two-mass model.

Where Δϕ is shaft torsion between motor and pinion, ωM is

a motor angular velocity, ωDD is a directly driven wheel angular IV. THE UNSCENTED KALMAN FILTER
velocity, and iF is an estimated relative adhesion force. The proposed method is based on the UKF. The used UKF
The mechanical part of the wheelset is linear. Therefore, for algorithm uses the scaled unscented transformation that is a
a two-mass system, a system matrix can be written: modification of the symmetric transformation. This transfor-
⎡ 1 1 ⎤ mation has improved robustness against high order nonlin-
0 J1 J2 0
⎢ ⎥ earities [26]. The UKF algorithm is described here because
⎢ c12 −d12 d12 0 ⎥
⎢ ⎥ more types of implementations are described in the literature.
⎢ 1 ⎥
⎣ 12
c d 12 −d 12 − J2 ⎦ The algorithm of the used UKF is described in [26], [33]
0 0 0 − T1 and [34]:

C. Two-Mass Model Comparison With the Five-Mass Model χ0 = x̂k (+) (5)
√
A comparison between the two models was carried out ac- χi = x̂k (+) + ci · n + λ, i = 1, . . . , n (6)
cording to the poles of the models. Frequencies, which were √
χn +i = x̂k (+) − ci · n + λ, i = 1, . . . , n (7)
determined by the five-mass model and from measurement on
the locomotive, are 18 Hz and 61 Hz. The 18 Hz was determined λ
W0 = (8)
as a frequency between the motor and the wheel, and 61 Hz is n+λ
the frequency of vibration between the directly driven wheel ( ẑ ) λ
W0 = (9)
and indirectly driven wheel. The reduced model only contains n+λ
18 Hz. The difference between the five-mass model and two- (P ) λ
mass model is shown in Fig. 8. The comparison is made through W0 z z = + 1 − α2 + β (10)
n+λ
their poles. Frequencies of 18 Hz are shown for both models,
1
and 61 Hz is shown for the five-mass model only in Fig. 8. Wi = , i = 1, . . . , n (11)
2(n + 1)
The reduced two-mass model does not preserve higher fre-
quency. Therefore, its behaviour is different. The comparison 1
Wn +i = , i = 1, . . . , n (12)
of the five-mass model and the two-mass mode is also made 2(n + 1)
by a Bode plot that is shown in Fig. 9. The behaviour of the 
2n +1
five-mass model and two-mass model is almost identical to the x̂k (−) = Wi · ηi (13)
frequencies up to18 Hz. The difference occurs at the frequency i=1

of 61 Hz where the frequency is not preserved in the two-mass 

2n +1

model. However, the frequency is not considered. Therefore, the Pxx = Wi · (ηi − x̂) · (ηi − x̂)T (14)
accuracy is almost the same in the considered frequency range. i=1

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 5736

2n +1
( ẑ )
ẑ = W0 · ξ0 + Wi · ξi
i=1
(P z z )
Pz z = W0 · (ξ0 − ẑ) · (ξ0 − ẑ)T

2n +1
+ Wi · (ξi − ẑ) · (ξi − ẑ)T
i=1

2n +1
Pxz = Wi · (ηi − x̂k (−)) · (ξi − ẑk )T
i=1
Pxz
Kk =
Pz z + R k
x̂k (+) = x̂k (−) + Kk · (zk + ẑk )
Pk (−) = Pxx + Qk
Pk (+) = Pk (−) + Kk · P̂xz
T
Where χ is a sigma point matrix, x̂ is a state estimation Pk is
an error covariance matrix, λ, α, β and κ are scaling parameters,
Wi are weights of χi , ẑ is an output estimation Pzz is a prior
output error covariance matrix, Pxz is an output error covariance
matrix, Pxx is a prior error covariance matrix, Kk is the Kalman
gain, Rk is a measurement noise covariance matrix, Qk is a
process noise covariance matrix, and zk is a measured system
output. An a-posteriori estimation is marked by a (+) symbol,
and an a-priori estimation is marked by a (–) symbol.
The scaling parameter λ that is defined as:
λ = α2 · κ + n · (1 + α2 )
Where a scaling parameter α describes a range of sigma points
around x̂, β contains information on the distribution of x, it has
value 2 [34], and κ is another scaling parameter, and it is usually
set to zero, but its value can be negative [26].
The ci are columns of a Cholesky factor calculated from
the matrix Pxx . The matrix Pxx has to be positive definitive
to be possible calculate the factor. If the matrix is not pos-
itive definite, the calculation fails. Therefore, a prejudgment
of the UKF algorithm divergence can be used to prevent the
situation [23].
V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
Verification of the method functionality was done with the
measured data and mathematical model. The measured data are
used for the proposed method functionality verification. The
mathematical model is used for the slip controller verification.
Results provided by the mathematical model are compared with
the measured data. This comparison is made to ensure that the
model is working correctly and to prove that the five-mass math-
ematical model provides sufficiently accurate results.
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 67, NO. 7, JULY 2018
(15)
(16)
(17)
(18)
(19)
(20)
(21)
Fig. 10. Example of the measured data–one wheelset velocity, train velocity,
and, the wheelset tractive effort.
A. Simulation Results Based on the Measured Data
The data were measured on the Škoda 93E electric locomo-
tive during a freight train hauling. During measurement were
measured wheelset velocity, a tractive effort and a train veloc-
ity. The wheelset velocity and the tractive effort were measured
by a locomotive computer, and the train velocity was measured
by a GPS. The wheelset velocity was measured on one wheel.
The wheelset velocity is considered the same as the wheel ve-
(22) locity because a shaft connects the wheels on the wheelset. An
example of the measured data is shown in Fig. 10. A high slip
velocity value is depicted in Fig. 10. The slip velocity value
is 1.65 m·s−1 , and the duration time is 1.5 seconds. The lo-
comotive is equipped with a re-adhesion controller that reacts
and decreases the tractive effort. The tractive effort decreasing
suppresses the high value of the slip velocity. The train veloc-
ity decreases as a side effect of the tractive effort decreasing.
The re-adhesion controller reaction occurs 0.6 seconds after the
high value of the slip velocity appearance. This response is typi-
cal for obsolete re-adhesion controllers. Modern slip controllers
should detect and suppress the high value of the slip velocity at
its beginning.
The simulations based on the measured data, with the UKF,
were done offline. The UKF simulation results are shown in
Fig. 11. The measured wheelset velocity, calculated wheel ve-
locity, calculated motor velocity, and estimated relative adhesion
force are shown in the Fig. 11. UKF calculates the calculated
motor and wheel velocities. The motor velocity is recalculated
to the wheel velocity. The measured wheelset velocity is used
as the UKF input. The motor velocity is the only estimation
because the velocity cannot be measured and the velocity is un-
observable. There is a time shift between the calculated wheel
 PICHLIK AND ZDENEK: LOCOMOTIVE WHEEL SLIP CONTROL METHOD BASED ON AN UNSCENTED KALMAN FILTER 5737

Fig. 12. The UKF results in a mathematical model.

Fig. 11. Result of adhesion estimation by a UKF on the measured data.

velocity and the calculated motor velocity. The shift is done by

elasticity and damping between a motor and the wheel. The time
shift is changed when the re-adhesion controller reacts. The last
variable is an estimated relative adhesion force. The relative ad-
hesion force is dimensionless value and does not correspond to
an actual adhesion coefficient or an actual adhesion force value.
The estimation performance depends on the covariance matri-
ces setting. The change of the matrices changes the estimated
output. The dependence of the covariance matrices settings on
the KF output is described in [36] in detail. However, the depen-
dence of the covariance matrix settings is similar to the UKF.
The relative adhesion force decreases when the slip starts rising.
The time delay between the slip beginning and the significant
reduction of the adhesion is 0.1 second. The time delay is caused
by the UKF settings and the velocity measurement period. The
velocity is measured by the locomotive computer. When the
measured data are recorded outside the locomotive computer,
the data are sent through a slow interface that does not enable
to transfer every data sample. Therefore, the velocity measure-
ment period is long. Thus, the data filtration is a side effect of the
Fig. 13. Demonstration of an operating point movement on the static adhesion-
data record. The data in the locomotive computer are measured slip characteristic.
with a shorter period, but it is not possible to get them from
the locomotive computer without computer´s modification. The
The simulation results are shown in Fig. 12 and the results
modification is difficult due to legislation. Therefore, a mathe-
correspond to the results depicted in Fig. 11.
matical model is used that generate simulated data with a proper
Demonstration of the operating point moving on the adhesion-
sampling period.
slip characteristic is shown in Fig. 13. There is shown the static
adhesion-slip characteristic, slip velocity, estimated relative ad-
B. Mathematical Model Verification hesion force and actual value of the adhesion coefficient. In the
The measured data enable to verify the proposed method beginning, the operating point is set to the stable area marked as
performance on the real system. For the method development, A when the slip velocity starts rising the operating point moves
it is more appropriate to use the mathematical model due to the to the area B1 . The point B1 and B2 are the same points on the
measured data drawbacks that occur during the measurement. adhesion-slip characteristic. The points are marked as point B,

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 5738
Fig. 14. Controller simulation results.
and the point indicates the maximal value of the adhesion-slip
characteristic. The relative adhesion force starts decreasing. The
slip velocity starts rising and the operating point steps over the
maximal value point and get to the area C1 . After a re-adhesion
controller reaction, the slip velocity starts decreasing, estimated
force reaches its minimal negative value, and operating point
starts returning to the maximal value of the adhesion-slip char-
acteristic. The operating point is in the area C2 . The relative
adhesion force starts rising. When the operating point reaches
the point B2 , which lies on the maximal point of the adhesion-
slip characteristic, the estimated adhesion reaches its zero value.
After that, the operating point returns to the stable area A.
C. PI Controller Simulation
The PI controller is used to demonstrate that it is possible to
control the slip velocity based on the estimated relative adhesion
force by a simple PI controller.
The simulation results are shown in Fig. 14. Comparison be-
tween the slip velocity limited by a re-adhesion controller, which
is implemented on the locomotive, and slip velocity limited by
the PI controller are shown in the Fig. 14. Estimated relative
adhesion forces and the applied forces are shown in the Fig. 14
too. The results with the re-adhesion controller are the same as
shown in Fig. 12. When the PI controller is connected, the slip
velocity has a lower value than in the previous case. The slip
velocity value is 0.3 m·s−1 . When the original re-adhesion con-
troller is connected, the value of the slip velocity is 2.1 m·s−1 .
The maximal reduction of the torque is about 50% when the
original re-adhesion controller works. When the PI controller
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 67, NO. 7, JULY 2018
is used, the torque decreases about 30% only. More significant
is the difference between the impulses value. The impulse is
85.9 kN·s, and the force decrease is 23% in a case when a re-
adhesion controller runs, and the impulse is 9.9 kN·s, and the
force decrease is 3% in a case when a PI controller runs. A
timely regulatory intervention causes the differences.
VI. CONCLUSION
The novel method for locomotive wheel slip control is de-
scribed in the paper. The method is based on the UKF that is
used as the estimator that estimates the relative adhesion force
that is used as the PI controller input that limits the applied
tractive effort to avoid the high value of a wheel slip velocity
creation. The proposed method can cope with some weakness
of traditional methods that are based on the derivative of the
adhesion force or coefficient according to a slip velocity. The
adhesion phenomenon, the used UKF algorithm, and the pro-
posed method are described in the paper. The wheelset model
and simulations are also described in the paper. The UKF uses
a two-mass wheelset model. The model was derived from the
five-mass model that describes the wheelset more precisely, but
the model contains some unobservable parts that are redundant
for the real-time control. The precision of the models is almost
identical in the used range. The two-mass model is used due
to lower computational complexity. The two-mass model is de-
signed, so the mechanical frequency between motor and wheel
is maintained. The detection method functionality was verified
with the measured data and on the mathematical model. The
measured data were used for mathematical model verification.
After that, the simulation based on the mathematical model was
done. Simulations based on the mathematical model can pro-
vide very similar results as the offline calculation based on the
measured data. The proposed method can detect the adhesion
conditions change at its beginning, and thus the high value of
the slip velocity can be eliminated in its beginning.
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Petr Pichlik received the Bachelor’s and Master’s
degrees in electrical engineering from Czech Tech-
nical University (CTU), Prague, Czech Republic, in
2008 and 2011, respectively. He is currently working
toward the Ph.D. degree at the Department of Electric
Drives and Traction, Faculty of Electrical Engineer-
ing, CTU. He is also a research worker with the De-
partment of Electric Drives and Traction, Faculty of
Electrical Engineering, CTU. His research interests
include electric railway traction vehicles, locomotive
slip control, and digital control systems.
Jiri Zdenek received the Master’s degree in electrical
engineering from Czech Technical University (CTU),
Prague, Czech Republic, in 1974, and the Ph.D. de-
gree in 1987. He is currently a research worker with
the Department of Electric Drives and Traction, Fac-
ulty of Electrical Engineering, CTU. His research
interests include electric traction vehicles, digital
control systems, embedded computer hardware, and
real-time control software.