Method and Apparatus for Determining the Velocity of a Vehicle Body

1. An adjustable damping system for an automotive vehicle comprising: a plurality of dampers: a plurality of vertical acceleration sensors for sensing vertical movement of the vehicle at least at three points of said vehicle and generating a plurality of vertical acceleration signals; a longitudinal speed sensor circuit for generating a filtered longitudinal speed signal indicative of the longitudinal speed of the vehicle; a lateral acceleration sensor circuit for generating a filtered lateral acceleration signal indicative of the lateral acceleration of the vehicle; a signal compensation system comprising: a filter chain integrator for receiving said vertical acceleration signals from said vertical acceleration sensors and generating a first plurality of signals indicative of the vertical movement of said automotive vehicle at said at least three points; a pitch-only system responsive to said filter chain integrator for determining a pitch component of each of said first plurality of signals and generating a plurality of pitch signals; a roll-only system responsive to said filter chain integrator for determining a roll component of each of said first plurality of signals and generating a plurality of roll signals; a first plurality of adders for adding and subtracting said plurality of pitch signals with said first plurality of signals from said filter chain integrator and with said filtered longitudinal speed signal to produce a plurality of compensated pitch signals; a second plurality of adders for adding and subtracting said plurality of roll signals with said first plurality of signals from said filter chain integrator and with said filtered lateral acceleration signal to produce a plurality of compensated roll signals; a third plurality of adders for adding and subtracting said first plurality of signals from said filter chain integrator with said plurality of compensated pitch signals and said plurality of compensated roll signals to produce a plurality of first compensated vertical movement signals; a velocity translation system for receiving said first compensated vertical movement signals and generating a plurality of second compensated vertical movement signals indicative of the vertical velocity of the vehicle at four points of the vehicle; and a damper control system responsive to said compensated pitch signals, said compensated roll signals and said second compensated vertical movement signals for comparing said compensated pitch, compensated roll and second compensated vertical movement signals with predetermined threshold values and generating a plurality of damping signals for controlling said dampers .