NLS Based Hierarchical Anti-Disturbance Controller for Vehicle Platoons With Time-Varying Parameter Uncertainties

Abstract

Cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC) is a promising technology for vehicle platoons to increase roadway capacity. This paper proposes a networked Lagrange system (NLS) based CACC dynamic model based on which a hierarchical anti-disturbance controller is developed to solve the stability problem of CACC in vehicle platoons with time-varying parameter uncertainties, external disturbances, and directional dynamic communication topology. First, a hierarchical anti-disturbance controller for NLS is constructed which comprises three layers, these are, the adaptive smooth estimator-control layer, the distributed classifying amplitude-related layer, and the anti-disturbance control layer, in which the parameter uncertainties are estimated in the adaptive smooth estimator-control layer, the disturbance classification and distribute control are executed in the distributed classifying amplitude-related layer and the anti-disturbance control layer respectively. In addition, the proposed controller is extended to address the stability problem of CACC in vehicle platoons with time-varying parameter uncertainties, external disturbances, and directional dynamic communication topology conditions, which shows the versatility of the controller. Finally, comparison studies and simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness, significance, and advantages of the presented controllers.