DMPC-based Data-packet Dropout Compensation in Vehicle Platooning Applications using V2V Communications

Cooperative vehicle platooning is an interesting topic nowadays because this structure uses the advantages of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication to design the control architecture. Vehicles can benefit of the new information received from their neighbouring vehicles through V2V communication, but new problems like time delay and data-packet-loss can appear. These can influence the performances and stability of the platoon if they are not considered in the design phase of the controller. This paper presents a control architecture based on a distributed model predictive control (DMPC) strategy for a cooperative vehicle platoon. The aim is to control the velocity of the leader and to ensure a safe distance between all the vehicles. The proposed control solution was tested in the presence of random data-packets-losses. The results show that the vehicles in the platoon succeed to maintain the desired distance between them, thus ensuring a safe driving experience.