Considering predicted road conditions in platoon control design

Abstract

The paper focuses on the design of a platoon control system which takes into consideration the safe travel by using the string stability theorem and the knowledge of the inclinations of the road along the route of the platoon. The controlled system incorporates the brake and the traction forces. By choosing the velocity of the platoon fitting in which the inclinations of the road the number of unnecessary accelerations and brakes can be reduced, thus so can the operations of the actuators of the vehicles, i.e. the powertrain and the brake system. The longitudinal dynamics of the vehicles is formulated in a linear control-oriented model. In the model the non-linear performance of the predicted road inclinations is considered together with the safety requirements based on the string stability. The control system is designed by using LPV/\@mathcal H_\infty control theory.