Dynamics of connected vehicle systems with delayed acceleration feedback

• Published in: Transportation research. Part C, Emerging technologies Emerging technologies, 2014-09, Vol.46, p.46-64
• Main Authors: Ge, Jin I., Orosz, Gábor
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 00–01; 99–00; Acceleration; Acceleration feedback; Connected cruise control (CCC); Control systems; Control theory; DSRC; Dynamical systems; Feedback; Head-to-tail string stability; Robustness; Time delay; Traffic engineering; Traffic flow; Vehicles
• ISSN: 0968-090X; 1879-2359
• DOI: 10.1016/j.trc.2014.04.014

The dynamics of the tail vehicle implementing acceleration-based connected cruise control (CCC) are given byḣ(t)=v1(t)-v(t),v̇(t)=αV(h(t-τ))-v(t-τ)+βḣ(t-τ)+∑k=1nγkv̇k(t-σk). The dynamics of non-CCC vehicles are given byḣi(t)=vi+1(t)-vi(t),v̇i(t)=αV(hi(t-τ))-vi(t-τ)+βḣi(t-τ). Three examples are shown in the figure below for a five-car platoon, such that γ1, γ2>0 in case A, γ1, γ3>0 in Case B, and γ1, γ4>0 in case C. [Display omitted] •Acceleration-based connected cruise control (CCC) is implemented for heterogeneous platoons.•The ad-hoc nature of wireless vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication is exploited.•The design is robust against variation of human parameters and is scalable for large systems.•Delays are used as design parameters in order to ensure string stability.•It is demonstrated that acceleration feedback shall be used in a selective manner. In this paper, acceleration-based connected cruise control (CCC) is proposed to increase roadway traffic mobility. CCC is designed to be able to use acceleration signals received from multiple vehicles ahead through wireless vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication. We consider various connectivity structures in heterogeneous platoons comprised of human-driven and CCC vehicles. We show that inserting a few CCC vehicles with appropriately designed gains and delays into the flow, one can stabilize otherwise string unstable vehicle platoons. Exploiting the flexibility of ad-hoc connectivity, CCC can be applied in a large variety of traffic scenarios. Moreover, using acceleration feedback in a selective manner, CCC provides robust performance and remains scalable for large systems of connected vehicles. Our conclusions are verified by simulations at the nonlinear level.