Fixed-Time Sliding Mode Control for Vehicle Platoon With Input Dead-Zone and Prescribed Performance

This article studies the fixed-time sliding mode control (FTSMC) issue for vehicle platoon with prescribed performance, input dead-zone (IDZ), unknown nonlinearities, and external disturbances. Unlike the traditional funnel-shaped prescribed performance function, a new tunnel fixed-time prescribed performance function (TFTPPF) is proposed, which defines more compact tunnel-shaped performance boundaries that can accelerate convergence speed and reduce overshoot of tracking error. The convergence time of TFTPPF is predefined and is independent of control parameters, which enhances the design flexibility of performance function. Furthermore, Chebyshev neural network (CNN) is adopted to approximate unknown nonlinearities, and new adaptive mechanisms are designed to estimate IDZ slope and external disturbances. Utilizing the proposed TFTPPF, CNN, and adaptive mechanisms, a novel FTSMC strategy for vehicle platoon is proposed to ensure string stability and achieve predefined tracking performance within a fixed time. Finally, comparative numerical examples are employed to validate the validity and advantages of the proposed strategy.