Two-sided wave-absorbing control of a heterogenous vehicular platoon

The paper tailors the so-called wave-absorbing control designed for a homogenous platoon of vehicles to a platoon where dynamics of vehicles dier. The proposed solution is based on the symmetric bidirectional control of the in-platoon vehicles and wave-absorbing control of the platoon ends. This type of control reduces oscillations of vehicle's velocities and signicantly decrease the settling time of the platoon by absorbing waves on the platoon ends. The necessary transfer-function-based mathematical apparatus for description of the so-called soft boundary is also presented. Although the soft boundary is a virtual boundary located between the vehicles of dierent dynamics, it signicantly alters the behaviour of the platoon. It is shown how to incorporate model of the soft boundary into the design of the wave-absorbing control such that its eect is minimized. The proposed control scheme is veried on numerous mathematical simulations.