Scale Free Bounds on the Amplification of Disturbances in Mass Chains

TL;DR

This paper introduces a scale-free method for designing mechanical impedances that effectively suppress disturbance propagation in mass chains, applicable to systems of any size with guaranteed performance.

Contribution

It presents a novel, scale-free design approach for disturbance suppression in mass chains, demonstrated through vehicle platoon control.

Findings

Design method is scale-free and applicable to any chain length.

Achieves disturbance suppression with provable guarantees.

Successfully applied to vehicle platoon control.

Abstract

We give a method for designing a mechanical impedance to suppress the propagation of disturbances along a chain of masses. The key feature of our method is that it is scale free. This means that it can be used to give a single, fixed, design, with provable performance guarantees in mass chains of any length. We illustrate the approach by designing a bidirectional control law in a vehicle platoon in a manner that is independent of the number of vehicles in the platoon.