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- Alam, Assad, 1982-
(author)
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Fuel-Efficient Distributed Control for Heavy Duty Vehicle Platooning
- 2011
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Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Freight transport demand has escalated and will continue to do so as economiesgrow. As the traffic intensity increases, the drivers are faced with increasinglycomplex tasks and traffic safety is a growing issue. Simultaneously, fossil fuel usageis escalating. Heavy duty vehicle (HDV) platooning is a plausible solution to theseissues. Even though there has been a need for introducing automated HDV platooningsystems for several years, they have only recently become possible to implement.Advancements in on-board and external technology have ushered in new possibilitiesto aid the driver and enhance the system performance. Each vehicle is able to serveas an information node through wireless communication; enabling a cooperativenetworked transportation system. Thereby, vehicles can semi-autonomously travel atshort intermediate spacings, effectively reducing congestion, relieving driver tension,improving fuel consumption and emissions without compromising safety. This thesis presents contributions to a framework for the design and implementation of HDV platooning. The focus lies mainly on establishing and validating realconstraints for fuel optimal control for platooning vehicles. Nonlinear and linearvehicle models are presented together with a system architecture, which dividesthe complex problem into manageable subsystems. The fuel reduction potentialis investigated through simulation models and experimental results derived fromstandard vehicles traveling on a Swedish highway. It is shown through analyticaland experimental results that it is favorable with respect to the fuel consumption tooperate the vehicles at a much shorter intermediate spacing than what is currentlydone in commercially available systems. The results show that a maximum fuelreduction of 4.7–7.7 % depending on the inter-vehicle time gap, at a set speedof 70 km/h, can be obtained without compromising safety. A systematic designmethodology for inter-vehicle distance control is presented based on linear quadraticregulators (LQRs). The structure of the controller feedback matrix can be tailoredto the locally available state information. The results show that a decentralizedcontroller gives good tracking performance, a robust system and lowers the controleffort downstream in the platoon. It is also shown that the design methodologyproduces a string stable system for an arbitrary number of vehicles in the platoon,if the vehicle configurations and the LQR weighting parameters are identical for theconsidered subsystems. With the results obtained in this thesis, it is argued that a vast fuel reductionpotential exists for HDV platooning. Present commercial systems can be enhancedsignificantly through the introduction of wireless communication and decentralizedoptimal control.
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- Alam, Assad, 1982-
(author)
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Fuel-Efficient Heavy-Duty Vehicle Platooning
- 2014
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The freight transport industry faces big challenges as the demand for transport and fuel prices are steadily increasing, whereas the environmental impact needs to be significantly reduced. Heavy-duty vehicle (HDV) platooning is a promising technology for a sustainable transportation system. By semi-autonomously governing each platooning vehicle at small inter-vehicle spacing, we can effectively reduce fuel consumption, emissions, and congestion, and relieve driver tension. Yet, it is not evident how to synthesise such a platoon control system and how constraints imposed by the road topography affect the safety or fuel-saving potential in practice.This thesis presents contributions to a framework for the design, implementation, and evaluation of HDV platooning. The focus lies mainly on establishing fuel-efficient platooning control and evaluating the fuel-saving potential in practice. A vehicle platoon model is developed together with a system architecture that divides the control problem into manageable subsystems. Presented results show that a significant fuel reduction potential exists for HDV platooning and it is favorable to operate the vehicles at a small inter-vehicle spacing. We address the problem of finding the minimum distance between HDVs in a platoon without compromising safety, by setting up the problem in a game theoretical framework. Thereby, we determine criteria for which collisions can be avoided in a worst-case scenario and establish the minimum safe distance to a vehicle ahead. A systematic design methodology for decentralized inter-vehicle distance control based on linear quadratic regulators is presented. It takes dynamic coupling and engine response delays into consideration, and the structure of the controller feedback matrix can be tailored to the locally available state information. The results show that a decentralized controller gives good tracking performance and attenuates disturbances downstream in the platoon for dynamic scenarios that commonly occur on highways. We also consider the problem of finding a fuel-efficient controller for HDV platooning based on road grade preview information under road and vehicle parameter uncertainties. We present two model predictive control policies and derive their fuel-saving potential. The thesis finally evaluates the fuel savings in practice. Experimental results show that a fuel reduction of 3.9–6.5 % can be obtained on average for a heterogenous platoon of HDVs on a Swedish highway. It is demonstrated how the savings depend on the vehicle position in the platoon, the behavior of the preceding vehicles, and the road topography. With the results obtained in this thesis, it is argued that a significant fuel reduction potential exists for HDV platooning.
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- Alam, Assad, 1982-, et al.
(author)
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Suboptimal Decentralized Controller Design for Chain Structures : Applications to Vehicle Formations
- 2011
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In: IEEE 50th Annual Conference on Decision and Control and European Control Conference, Orlando, December, 2011. - : IEEE. ; , s. 6894-6900
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We consider suboptimal decentralized controllerdesign for subsystems with interconnected dynamics and costfunctions. A systematic design methodology is presented overthe class of linear quadratic regulators (LQR) for chain graphs.The methodology is evaluated on heavy duty vehicle platooningwith physical constraints. A simulation and frequency analysisis performed. The results show that the decentralized controllergives good tracking performance and a robust system. We alsoshow that the design methodology produces a string stablesystem for an arbitrary number of vehicles in the platoon, ifthe vehicle configurations and the LQR weighting parametersare identical for the considered subsystems.
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