Sampled-data vehicular platoon control with communication delay

This article investigates sampled-data vehicular platoon control with communication delay. A new sampled-data control method is established, in which the effect of the communication delay is involved. First, a linearized vehicle longitudinal dynamic model is obtained using the exact feedback-linearization technique. Then, under the leader-predecessor following communication strategy, considering communication delay, a platoon control law is proposed based on sampled state information, which allows the weights of state errors to vary along the platoon. Complemented by additional string stability conditions, a useful string-stable platoon controller design algorithm is proposed. Finally, the effectiveness of platoon controller design methodology is demonstrated by numerical examples.