Cooperative Control Synthesis and Stability Analysis of Multiple Trains Under Moving Signaling Systems

Emerging communication-based train control techniques are a critical foundation for automatic or semiautomatic train operation for guaranteed safety, line utilization, operation efficiency, and energy saving toward intelligent rail transportation systems. Multiple-train cooperative control encounters great challenges from train control, communications, interval coordination, and uncertainties in operational environments. This paper introduces cooperative controlmethods and corresponding stability criterions for multiple trains under moving-block signaling systems. Two coordination scenarios are considered, and corresponding control algorithms are proposed, and their stabilities are established using Lyapunov and invariant-set theorems. The proposed controllers hold the minimal computation complexity, i.e., only one parameter needs online tuning by virtue of an ingenious parameter estimation technique. The methodologies utilize the information of "nearest neighbor trains" through onboard sensors and train-train (T2T) communications but guarantee global deployment and performance of the multiple trains queuing. The control abilities of the algorithms under predecessor following and bidirectional architecture modes are analyzed and demonstrated to be effective via simulation studies.