A Novel V2V Assisted Platooning System: Control Scheme and MAC Layer Designs (original) (raw)
Related papers
3GPP C-V2X and IEEE 802.11p for Vehicle-to-Vehicle communications in highway platooning scenarios
Ad Hoc Networks, 2018
The focus of this study is the performance of high-density truck platooning achieved with different wireless technologies for vehicleto-vehicle (V2V) communications. Platooning brings advantages such as lower fuel consumption and better traffic efficiency, which are maximized when the inter-vehicle spacing can be steadily maintained at a feasible minimum. This can be achieved with Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control, an automated cruise controller that relies on the complex interplay among V2V communications, on-board sensing, and actuation. This work provides a clear mapping between the performance of the V2V communications, which is measured in terms of latency and reliability, and of the platoon, which is measured in terms of achievable inter-truck spacing. Two families of radio technologies are compared: IEEE 802.11p and 3GPP Cellular-V2X (C-V2X). The C-V2X technology considered in this work is based on the Release 14 of the LTE standard, which includes two modes for V2V communications: Mode 3 (base-station-scheduled) and Mode 4 (autonomously-scheduled). Results show that C-V2X in both modes allows for shorter inter-truck distances than IEEE 802.11p due to more reliable communications performance under increasing congestion on the wireless channel caused by surrounding vehicles.
Sensors
A suitable control architecture for connected vehicle platoons may be seen as a promising solution for today’s traffic problems, by improving road safety and traffic flow, reducing emissions and fuel consumption, and increasing driver comfort. This paper provides a comprehensive overview concerning the defining levels of a general control architecture for connected vehicle platoons, intending to illustrate the options available in terms of sensor technologies, in-vehicle networks, vehicular communication, and control solutions. Moreover, starting from the proposed control architecture, a solution that implements a Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) functionality for a vehicle platoon is designed. Also, two control algorithms based on the distributed model-based predictive control (DMPC) strategy and the feedback gain matrix method for the control level of the CACC functionality are proposed. The designed architecture was tested in a simulation scenario, and the obtained resu...
Vehicle Platooning Systems: Review, Classification and Validation Strategies
International Journal of Networked and Distributed Computing, 2020
The increase in vehicle numbers has resulted in the growth of traffic jams in cities and highways, thereby raising various issues on fuel consumption, environmental pollution, and traffic safety [1]. Platooning is an Intelligent Transport System (ITS) [2] application which has emerged as a promising solution for the traffic management in highways. The main idea of vehicle platooning suggests that a set of vehicles travel together while maintaining a small distance between each other. This can lead to an increase in traffic capacity and then an improved traffic management and a reduced travel time. Moreover, the comfort and the safety of passengers are enhanced since the scenarios of extreme acceleration or deceleration are eliminated and the platoon vehicles are considered as a single unit. Furthermore, the emission performance and the fuel economy are significantly improved. A vehicle platoon (also called "convoy") can be seen as a group of vehicles that travel in close coordination through a headway control mechanism. These vehicles maintain a short spacing between them and a relative velocity. The vehicle in the front position, called leader, represents the trajectory and velocity reference. It controls all the following vehicles in the platoon. Each vehicle of the platoon receives orders from the leader that may be communicated either directly or by the preceding vehicle. As platooning system is a critical system, safety is an important issue. However, safety is exposed to several challenges if the system does not achieve its goal without any disturbance. For instance, it is important to ensure that vehicles do not get too close and react within a certain time frame during emergencies. Then, platooning systems need to be validated to ensure a reliable behaviour. For that, it is necessary to clearly define validation strategies (formal verification, simulation, etc.) as this has already been used in critical fields like healthcare [3] and avionics [4]. That is why, we make emphasis in this paper on the works that deal with validation methods and techniques for platooning systems. 1.2. Related Surveys and Scope of the Paper There are several useful surveys which have been conducted to deal with some aspects related to platooning algorithms. In Kavathekar and Chen [5], the authors introduce several existing algorithms which focus on vehicle platooning. Besides, they detail some methodologies for obstacle detection and collision avoidance. Furthermore, they are interested in inter-vehicle communication techniques which allow vehicles to share some information such as the velocity, acceleration and detected obstacles. In the same context, the survey of Jia et al. [6] provides a valuable insight about platoon-based vehicular systems. The main issues related to these systems are analysed such as the platoon management and the communication inter-and intra-platoon. The study of Kulla et al. [7] presents a survey in which they introduce a classification of vehicular communication methods which aim to control vehicles. Moreover, the authors introduce the different platooning operations which can take place to enhance the driving efficiency and increase safety.
Cellular-V2X Communications for Platooning: Design and Evaluation
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), 2018
Platooning is a cooperative driving application where autonomous/semi-autonomous vehicles move on the same lane in a train-like manner, keeping a small constant inter-vehicle distance, in order to reduce fuel consumption and gas emissions and to achieve safe and efficient transport. To this aim, they may exploit multiple on-board sensors (e.g., radars, LiDARs, positioning systems) and direct vehicle-to-vehicle communications to synchronize their manoeuvres. The main objective of this paper is to discuss the design choices and factors that determine the performance of a platooning application, when exploiting the emerging cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) communication technology and considering the scheduled mode, specified by 3GPP for communications over the sidelink assisted by the eNodeB. Since no resource management algorithm is currently mandated by 3GPP for this new challenging context, we focus on analyzing the feasibility and performance of the dynamic scheduling approa...
A Simple Cooperative Platooning Controller for Connected Vehicles
2020
Urban traffic congestion is a chronic problem faced by many cities. It is essentially inefficient infrastructure use which results in increased vehicle fuel consumption and emissions. This in turn adds extra costs to commuters and businesses. Addressing this issue is therefore of paramount interest due to the perceived dual benefit. Many technologies were and are being developed. These include adaptive traffic signals, dedicated lanes, etc. This paper presents a simple platooning algorithm that maintains relatively small distances (pre-specified time gap) between consecutive vehicles to enhance mobility, increase transportation capacity and ultimately reduce travel costs. Several dynamic and kinematic constraints governing the motion of vehicles are also accounted for. These include acceleration, velocity, and distance constraints. This developed logic was tested on highways that traverse the downtown area of Los Angeles. Depending on the market penetration rate of connected automat...
Autonomous Controller-Aware Scheduling of Intra-Platoon V2V Communications
Sensors
In this paper, we investigate the problem of reducing the use of radio resources for vehicle-to-vehicle communications in an autonomous platooning scenario. Achieving reliable communications, which is a key element allowing for the tight coordination of platoon vehicles’ motion, might be challenging in a case of heavy road traffic. Thus, in this paper, we propose to reduce the number of intra-platoon transmissions required to facilitate the safe autonomous control of vehicle mobility, by analyzing the impact of cars’ behaviors (in terms of acceleration changes) on the evolution of the inter-vehicle distance errors within the platoon. We derive formulas representing the relation between the platoon leader’s acceleration changes and the evolution of the distance error, velocity difference, and the accelerations for the first pair of vehicles. Furthermore, we propose a heuristic algorithm for selection of the intra-platoon messaging period for each platoon vehicle that minimizes the us...
Analysis of Packet drops and Channel Crowding in Vehicle Platooning using V2X communication
2018 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence (SSCI), 2018
With the increase in road fatalities and energy consumption, there is a need to improve road traffic in terms of safety and fuel efficiency. Vehicle platooning is one of the areas in road transportation that can be improved to reduce road freight operational costs. In this paper, an MPC (Model Predictive Control) algorithm is formulated based on the combination of Constant Distance (CD) and Headway Time (HT) topology. The simulations are carried out for platooning of Heavy Duty Vehicles (HDVs) using an integrated simulation platform, which combines VISSIM, MATLAB and Network Simulator (NS3). Deliberate communication failures are introduced through NS3 to study the platoon behavior. Further, a solution is proposed to avoid the channel crowding issue. Simulations of the platoon controller indicate that the vehicles follow a desired speed and maintain a desired intervehicular distance. It is also found that the platoon controller avoids collisions due to consecutive packet drops. Finally, an improvement in Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR) is observed with the proposed solution to avoid channel crowding issue.
Cooperative Platooning in Connected Vehicles
2019
The future promises an Intelligent Transportation System where it is predicted that all vehicles will be connected by 2030. In the transformation of the today’s system to an autonomous environment, the autonomous and connected vehicles will have to cooperate and co-exist. Cooperative Intelligent transportation can reduce traffic congestion, fuel consumption and ease the task of driving. In this regard a platooning concept where a flock of vehicles are set to follow a leader vehicle, adopting its vehicle dynamics is one of the most researched area. The need for proper understanding of the different scenarios that can occur in the real world is a crucial part of the research as these directly affects the safety of all those on the roads. A prototype test bed, due to low cost and scalability proved to be more efficient in evaluating these scenarios and is hence used for this work.
Improving Urban Traffic Throughput With Vehicle Platooning: Theory and Experiments
IEEE Access, 2020
In this paper we present a model-predictive control (MPC) based approach for vehicle platooning in an urban traffic setting. Our primary goal is to demonstrate that vehicle platooning has the potential to significantly increase throughput at intersections, which can create bottlenecks in the traffic flow. To do so, our approach relies on vehicle connectivity: vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-toinfrastructure (V2I) communication. In particular, we introduce a customized V2V message set which features a velocity forecast, i.e. a prediction on the future velocity trajectory, which enables platooning vehicles to accurately maintain short following distances, thereby increasing throughput. Furthermore, V2I communication allows platoons to react immediately to changes in the state of nearby traffic lights, e.g. when the traffic phase becomes green, enabling additional gains in traffic efficiency. We present our design of the vehicle platooning system, and then evaluate performance by estimating the potential gains in terms of throughput using our results from simulation, as well as experiments conducted with real test vehicles on a closed track. Lastly, we briefly overview our demonstration of vehicle platooning on public roadways in Arcadia, CA. INDEX TERMS Vehicle platooning, traffic throughput, model predictive control.