Optimal distributed control for platooning via sparse coprime factorizations

TL;DR

This paper presents a new distributed control architecture for vehicle platoons that guarantees string stability, eliminates the accordion effect, and allows for optimal control design using sparse coprime factorizations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel sparse coprime factorization approach for distributed control of heterogeneous platoons, enabling optimal design and structural constraints.

Findings

Guarantees string stability in platoons.

Eliminates the accordion effect.

Enables optimal control via norm-based costs.

Abstract

We introduce a novel distributed control architecture for heterogeneous platoons of linear time--invariant autonomous vehicles. Our approach is based on a generalization of the concept of {\em leader--follower} controllers for which we provide a Youla--like parameterization while the sparsity constraints are imposed on the controller's left coprime factors, outlying a new concept of structural constraints in distributed control. The proposed scheme is amenable to optimal controller design via norm based costs, it guarantees string stability and eliminates the accordion effect from the behavior of the platoon. We also introduce a synchronization mechanism for the exact compensation of the time delays induced by the wireless broadcasting of information.