Distributed Nonlinear Model Predictive Control for Connected Autonomous Electric Vehicles Platoon with Distance-Dependent Air Drag Formulation

Bianca Caiazzo, Angelo Coppola, Alberto Petrillo and Stefania Santini
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Bianca Caiazzo: Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (DIETI), University of Naples Federico II, 80125 Naples, Italy
Angelo Coppola: Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (DIETI), University of Naples Federico II, 80125 Naples, Italy
Alberto Petrillo: Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (DIETI), University of Naples Federico II, 80125 Naples, Italy
Stefania Santini: Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (DIETI), University of Naples Federico II, 80125 Naples, Italy

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 16, 1-17

Abstract: This paper addresses the leader tracking problem for a platoon of heterogeneous autonomous connected fully electric vehicles where the selection of the inter-vehicle distance between adjacent vehicles plays a crucial role in energy consumption reduction. In this framework, we focused on the design of a cooperative driving control strategy able to let electric vehicles move as a convoy while keeping a variable energy-oriented inter-vehicle distance between adjacent vehicles which, depending on the driving situation, was reduced as much as possible to guarantee air-drag reduction, energy saving and collision avoidance. To this aim, by exploiting a distance-dependent air drag coefficient formulation, we propose a novel distributed nonlinear model predictive control (DNMPC) where the cost function was designed to ensure leader tracking performances, as well as to optimise the inter-vehicle distance with the aim of reducing energy consumption. Extensive simulation analyses, involving a comparative analysis with respect to the classical constant time headway (CTH) spacing policy, were performed to confirm the capability of the DNMPC in guaranteeing energy saving.

Keywords: electric vehicles (EVs); e-platoon; distributed nonlinear model predictive control; energy consumption; air drag coefficient (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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