Selection of Time Headway in Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Platoons Under Noisy V2V Communication

In this paper, we investigate the selection of time headway to ensure robust string stability in connected and autonomous vehicle platoons in the presence of signal noise in Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication. In particular, we consider the effect of noise in communicated vehicle acceleration from the predecessor vehicle to the follower vehicle on the selection of the time headway in predecessor-follower type vehicle platooning with a Constant Time Headway Policy (CTHP). Employing a CTHP based control law for each vehicle that utilizes onboard sensors for measurement of position and velocity of the predecessor vehicle and wireless communication network for obtaining the acceleration of the predecessor vehicle, we investigate how the implementable time headway is affected by communicated signal noise. We derive constraints on the CTHP controller gains for predecessor acceleration, velocity error and spacing error and a lower bound on the time headway which will ensure robust string stability of the platoon against signal noise. We perform comparative numerical simulations on an example to illustrate the main results.