Impact of packet loss on CACC string stability performance

Recent development in wireless technology enables communication between vehicles. The concept of Co-operative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) - which uses wireless communication between vehicles - aims at string stable behaviour in a platoon of vehicles. “String stability” means any non-zero position, speed, and acceleration errors of an individual vehicle in a string do not amplify when they propagate upstream. In this paper, we will discuss the string stability of CACC and evaluate its performance with various packet loss ratios, beacon sending frequencies and time headway in simulations. The simulation framework is built up with a controller prototype, a traffic simulator, and a network simulator.