System and method for operating a follower vehicle in a vehicle platoon

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9927816-B2
Application number	US-201615153778-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 13, 2016
Priority date	May 13, 2016
Publication date	Mar 27, 2018
Grant date	Mar 27, 2018

Abstract

A method for operating a follower vehicle in a vehicle platoon includes determining, during operation, whether the follower vehicle is operating in a normal state or an abnormal state based on an operation condition of a component of the follower vehicle, or a communication between the follower vehicle and a preceding vehicle in the vehicle platoon. The method further includes selecting a first control mode if the follower vehicle is in the normal state and a second control mode if the follower vehicle is in the abnormal state so as to control movement of the follower vehicle using the selected control mode. In the first control mode, the follower vehicle uses communication data received from the preceding vehicle in the vehicle platoon to control its movement. In the second control mode, the follower vehicle uses data obtained by one or more of its sensors to control its movement.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for operating a follower vehicle in a vehicle platoon, comprising the steps of:
(a) determining, during operation, whether the follower vehicle is operating in a normal state or an abnormal state based on:
an operation condition of a component of the follower vehicle, or
a communication between the follower vehicle and a preceding vehicle in the vehicle platoon;

(b) selecting a first control mode if the follower vehicle is in the normal state and a second control mode if the follower vehicle is in the abnormal state so as to control movement of the follower vehicle using the selected control mode;

wherein in the first control mode, the follower vehicle uses communication data received from the preceding vehicle in the vehicle platoon to control its movement; and in the second control mode, the follower vehicle uses data obtained by one or more of its sensors to control its movement;
(c) determining, at the follower vehicle, a distance between the follower vehicle and the preceding vehicle and a deviation of the preceding vehicle with respect to the follower vehicle;
(d) controlling a velocity of the follower vehicle so as to maintain a reference distance between the follower vehicle and the preceding vehicle and controlling turning of wheels of the follower vehicle so as to enable the follower vehicle to follow the deviation of the preceding vehicle thereby allowing the follower vehicle to substantially follow a trajectory of the preceding vehicle;

wherein the control of the velocity is based on

u
i

⁡

(
t
)

=

K
p

*

e
i

⁡

(
t
)

+

k
i

*

∫

e
i

⁡

(
t
)

⁢
dt

+

k
d

*

de
i

⁡

(
t
)

dt

where u i (t) is an acceleration value of the follower vehicle V i ; K p , K i , K d are, respectively, proportional, integrator and derivative gains constant; e i (t) is an error value at time t with ei(t)=D i,i−1 -Dref; D i,i−1 is a detected distance between the follower vehicle and the preceding vehicle: and D ref is the predetermined reference distance between the follower vehicle and the preceding vehicle.

2. The method in accordance with claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
receiving, at the follower vehicle, a signal indicative of the operation condition of the component or a communication signal transmitted from the preceding vehicle prior to step (a).

3. The method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the follower vehicle is determined to be operating in the abnormal state in step (a) when the component of the follower vehicle is determined to have abnormal operating condition; or the communication between the follower vehicle and the preceding vehicle is determined to have lost or have a quality below a threshold.

4. The method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein, in step (a), the determination of whether the follower vehicle is operating in a normal state or an abnormal state is based on both the operation condition of the component of the follower vehicle and the communication between the follower vehicle and a preceding vehicle.

5. The method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein in the first control mode, the distance is determined based on differential GPS using the following information: a local coordinate of the follower vehicle; a local orientation of the follower vehicle; and a GPS coordinate and a GPS orientation of the preceding vehicle that are received from the preceding vehicle.

6. The method in accordance with claim 5 , wherein in the first control mode, the deviation is determined using the information for differential GPS and orientation information obtained using a compass at the follower vehicle.

7. The method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein in the second control mode, the distance and the deviation are determined using the one or more sensors of the follower vehicle.

8. The method in accordance with claim 7 , wherein the one or more sensors are arranged to transmit and receive electromagnetic or acoustic signals for distance and deviation determination.

9. The method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the control of the deviation is based on
θ L (t) =PID Steer (θ L )

where the PID steer function is defined by

u
i

⁡

(
t
)

=

K
pl

*

e
il

⁡

(
t
)

+

k
il

*

∫

e
il

⁡

(
t
)

⁢
dt

+

k
d

*

Assignees

• Univ Macau Sci & Tech

Inventors

• Li Zhiwu
• Karoui Oussama
• Koubaa Anis
• Khalgui Mohamed
• Guerfala Emna
• Tovard Eduardo
• Wu Naiqi

Classifications

• B60K31/00

  Vehicle fittings, acting on a single sub-unit only, for automatically controlling vehicle speed, i.e. preventing speed from exceeding an arbitrarily established velocity or maintaining speed at a particular velocity, as selected by the vehicle operator · CPC title

• B60W30/165

  Automatically following the path of a preceding lead vehicle, e.g. "electronic tow-bar" · CPC title

• G08G1/22

  Platooning, i.e. convoy of communicating vehicles · CPC title

• G05D1/0278

  using satellite positioning signals, e.g. GPS · CPC title

• G05D1/0027

  involving a plurality of vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling (fleet control of land vehicles from a control room G05D1/0297; traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00; for marine craft G08G3/00; for aircraft G08G5/00) · CPC title