Virtually coupled train set control subject to space-time separation: A distributed economic MPC approach with emergency braking configuration

The emerging virtual coupling technology aims to operate multiple train units in a Virtually Coupled Train Set (VCTS) at a minimal but safe distance. To guarantee collision avoidance, the safety distance should be calculated using the state-of-the-art space-time separation principle that separates t...

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Main Authors: Xiaolin Luo, Tao Tang, Le Wang, Hongjie Liu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2024-09-01
Series:High-Speed Railway
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949867824000552
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author Xiaolin Luo
Tao Tang
Le Wang
Hongjie Liu
author_facet Xiaolin Luo
Tao Tang
Le Wang
Hongjie Liu
author_sort Xiaolin Luo
collection DOAJ
description The emerging virtual coupling technology aims to operate multiple train units in a Virtually Coupled Train Set (VCTS) at a minimal but safe distance. To guarantee collision avoidance, the safety distance should be calculated using the state-of-the-art space-time separation principle that separates the Emergency Braking (EB) trajectories of two successive units during the whole EB process. In this case, the minimal safety distance is usually numerically calculated without an analytic formulation. Thus, the constrained VCTS control problem is hard to address with space-time separation, which is still a gap in the existing literature. To solve this problem, we propose a Distributed Economic Model Predictive Control (DEMPC) approach with computation efficiency and theoretical guarantee. Specifically, to alleviate the computation burden, we transform implicit safety constraints into explicitly linear ones, such that the optimal control problem in DEMPC is a quadratic programming problem that can be solved efficiently. For theoretical analysis, sufficient conditions are derived to guarantee the recursive feasibility and stability of DEMPC, employing compatibility constraints, tube techniques and terminal ingredient tuning. Moreover, we extend our approach with globally optimal and distributed online EB configuration methods to shorten the minimal distance among VCTS. Finally, experimental results demonstrate the performance and advantages of the proposed approaches.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2949-8678
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publisher KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
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spelling doaj-art-3b947265b6f644deb6b90f0156bc473d2024-11-12T05:22:20ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.High-Speed Railway2949-86782024-09-0123143152Virtually coupled train set control subject to space-time separation: A distributed economic MPC approach with emergency braking configurationXiaolin Luo0Tao Tang1Le Wang2Hongjie Liu3State Key Laboratory of Advanced Rail Autonomous Operation, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China; Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USAState Key Laboratory of Advanced Rail Autonomous Operation, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, ChinaBeijing Zongheng Electro-Mechanical Technology Development Co., Ltd., Beijing 100081, ChinaSchool of Automation and Intelligence, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China; National Engineering Research Center of Rail Transportation Operation and Control System, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China; Corresponding author.The emerging virtual coupling technology aims to operate multiple train units in a Virtually Coupled Train Set (VCTS) at a minimal but safe distance. To guarantee collision avoidance, the safety distance should be calculated using the state-of-the-art space-time separation principle that separates the Emergency Braking (EB) trajectories of two successive units during the whole EB process. In this case, the minimal safety distance is usually numerically calculated without an analytic formulation. Thus, the constrained VCTS control problem is hard to address with space-time separation, which is still a gap in the existing literature. To solve this problem, we propose a Distributed Economic Model Predictive Control (DEMPC) approach with computation efficiency and theoretical guarantee. Specifically, to alleviate the computation burden, we transform implicit safety constraints into explicitly linear ones, such that the optimal control problem in DEMPC is a quadratic programming problem that can be solved efficiently. For theoretical analysis, sufficient conditions are derived to guarantee the recursive feasibility and stability of DEMPC, employing compatibility constraints, tube techniques and terminal ingredient tuning. Moreover, we extend our approach with globally optimal and distributed online EB configuration methods to shorten the minimal distance among VCTS. Finally, experimental results demonstrate the performance and advantages of the proposed approaches.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949867824000552Virtually coupled train setSpace-time separationEconomic model predictive controlDistributed model predictive controlEmergency braking configuration
spellingShingle Xiaolin Luo
Tao Tang
Le Wang
Hongjie Liu
Virtually coupled train set control subject to space-time separation: A distributed economic MPC approach with emergency braking configuration
High-Speed Railway
Virtually coupled train set
Space-time separation
Economic model predictive control
Distributed model predictive control
Emergency braking configuration
title Virtually coupled train set control subject to space-time separation: A distributed economic MPC approach with emergency braking configuration
title_full Virtually coupled train set control subject to space-time separation: A distributed economic MPC approach with emergency braking configuration
title_fullStr Virtually coupled train set control subject to space-time separation: A distributed economic MPC approach with emergency braking configuration
title_full_unstemmed Virtually coupled train set control subject to space-time separation: A distributed economic MPC approach with emergency braking configuration
title_short Virtually coupled train set control subject to space-time separation: A distributed economic MPC approach with emergency braking configuration
title_sort virtually coupled train set control subject to space time separation a distributed economic mpc approach with emergency braking configuration
topic Virtually coupled train set
Space-time separation
Economic model predictive control
Distributed model predictive control
Emergency braking configuration
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949867824000552
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AT lewang virtuallycoupledtrainsetcontrolsubjecttospacetimeseparationadistributedeconomicmpcapproachwithemergencybrakingconfiguration
AT hongjieliu virtuallycoupledtrainsetcontrolsubjecttospacetimeseparationadistributedeconomicmpcapproachwithemergencybrakingconfiguration