Controller Mode and Reference Governor for Constraint and Failure Management in Vehicle Platoon Systems

Platooning has a potential to improve traffic efficiency and fuel economy by allowing vehicles to travel with shorter inter-vehicle distances. However, shorter distances require stricter safety management, including degradation and failure mode effects management. This paper proposes a controller mode and reference governor (CMRG) scheme for constraint and failure management in vehicle platoon systems. The CMRG is an add-on supervisor for multi-mode controlled systems that monitors and adjusts the control modes and reference inputs to enforce constraints. Through simulations we show that with CMRG, safety constraints can be enforced and sensor and/or actuator degradations/failures can be managed in vehicle platoon systems.