Calculation of Vehicle Following/Unfollowing Relationship and Its Application in The Automatic Train Operation Control

Abstract

Whether the following vehicle’s behavior is bounded in safety, efficiency, and comfort by the position, velocity and control strategy of the preceding vehicle depends on whether vehicle following relationship exists between the two successive trains or not. The mathematical models is established to calculate the critical values of judging vehicle following/unfollowing relationship under absolute and relative braking modes. Based on the real-time calculation of vehicle following/unfollowing relationship and dynamic safe following distance, the states of automatic train following system, such as unfollowing state (i.e. free driving state), safe following state, and unsafe following state under the absolute and relative braking modes, are given and can be recognized by automatic detection systems to create conditions for the following vehicle to travel in safety, efficiency, and comfort.