Potential Function-Based String Stable Controller for Heavy Road Vehicle Platoons

Heavy Commercial Road Vehicle (HCRV) platooning is a promising solution to meet increasing freight transportation demands. This paper applies the concept of Artificial Potential Functions (APF) to design a string stable controller, viz., Potential Function-based String Stable (PFSS) controller, for establishing stable HCRV platoons under various operating conditions. A methodical approach for the design and selection of potential functions that would maintain the desired intervehicular spacing in the presence of perturbations has been presented. The proposed methodology has been evaluated on a complete vehicle dynamics model-based platoon framework, which would emulate actual vehicle operation. It provides string stable operation under different lead vehicle perturbation maneuvers on various road friction and slope conditions with homogeneous and heterogeneous loading conditions. Compared to existing string stable control approaches, the proposed PFSS controller has attributes such as minimal data requirement from neighboring vehicles, actuator feasible control actions, and simpler control structures.