A Feedforward PID Control Approach for Reference Tracking of Virtually Coupled Train Set

Virtual coupling has been widely studied recently due to its efficiency and flexibility. However, it is still a challenge for a virtually coupled train set to track arbitrary reference trajectories while keeping a stable formation. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a feedforward proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control approach for VCTS. We integrate feedforward, formation and PID controllers to achieve accurate reference tracking while guaranteeing a stable formation for VCTS. Local and string stability are rigorously proved through Lyapunov and frequency-domain analyses. Finally, the performance of our approach is verified in simulations and field experiments.