2-D Modeling, Control, and Simulation of Vehicle Platoons

Two-dimensional (2-D) systems were first studied in the context of image processing. Although their usefulness in representing multipass processes and distributed parameter systems was soon recognized, applications of the theory have been limited. In this paper, a new 2-D model of a vehicle platoon including engine dynamics is derived. The linear shift-invariant version of the model is used for the control system design and simulation of the platoon. Conditions for the bounded-input-bounded-output (BIBO) and practical BIBO stability of the platoon under closed-loop control are derived. A controller is designed for the system to obtain the desired time response. Simulation results are obtained using data from the literature.