Decentralized optimal control of a car platoon with guaranteed string stability

This paper presents newdecentralized optimal strategies for Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control(CACC) of a car platoon under string-stability constraints. Two related scenarios are explored in the article: in thefirst one, a linearquadratic regulator in the presence of measurable disturbances is synthesized, and the string-stability of the platoon is enforced over the controller’s feedback and feedforward gains. In the second scenario, H2-andH∞-performance criteria, respectively accounting for the desired group behavior and the stringstability of the platoon, are simultaneously achieved using the recently-proposedcompensator blendingmethod. An analytical study of the impact of actuation/communication delays and uncertain model parameters on the stability of the multi-vehicle system, is also conducted. The theory is illustrated via numerical simulations.