Robust Time-Delay Feedback Control of Vehicular CACC Systems with Uncertain Dynamics

Area of Science:

• Automotive Engineering
• Control Systems
• Robotics

Background:

• Vehicle platooning systems require advanced control strategies to manage complex dynamics and communication uncertainties.
• Existing cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC) methods often struggle with unpredictable communication delays and system parameter variations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel, robust time-delay CACC approach for vehicle platooning systems.
• To address challenges posed by uncertain vehicle dynamics and varying communication delays.
• To ensure robust string stability in uncertain vehicle platooning scenarios.

Main Methods:

• Utilized uncertain CACC models with perturbed parameters to represent system dynamics.
• Designed robust delay feedback controllers by integrating constant time headway strategy and predecessor-following communication topology.
• Employed linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) for controller computation and stability verification.

Main Results:

• Successfully designed a set of robust delay feedback controllers for uncertain vehicle platoons.
• Demonstrated the achievement of robust (string) stability for the platooning system under varying communication delays.
• Validated the proposed method's effectiveness through CarSim/Simulink co-simulation experiments with a seven-car platoon.

Conclusions:

• The proposed robust time-delay CACC approach effectively enhances the stability and reliability of vehicle platooning systems.
• The method provides a viable solution for real-world platooning applications facing communication delays and system uncertainties.
• Further research can explore adaptive strategies for even more dynamic and unpredictable environments.