Reduction of lateral and longitudinal oscillations of vehicle’s platooning by means of decentralized overlapping control

In this paper authors present a novel method for platoon formation and control in linear as well as non-linear trajectories. Tracking stability and string-stability are achieved through a decentralized overlapping control law, independently of the number of followers and their kinematics architecture. After a feedback linearization stage, a LQR controller is applied to every subsystem in which the platoon is divided. Considering the motion state of the preceding vehicle and the trajectory curvature provided by the leader, the orientation and spacing-distance errors are calculated and minimized through a coupled lateral and longitudinal control law based on an interconnected system with overlapping subsystems. This strategy has been validated by simulation of a convoy formed by 8 transport units.