A Model Predictive Control Approach for Virtually Coupled Train Set Based on Multi-Phase Trajectory Planning

Virtual coupling (VC) is an emerging technology that enhances railway operations by dynamically and accurately matching line capacity with passenger demand. However, challenges arise in coordinating the virtually coupled train set (VCTS) during inter-station operations and maintaining accurate control of the VCTS. To address this issue, we propose a multi-phase trajectory planning control approach to generate the reference trajectories for VCTS to enhance the synchronicity of interstation operations. However, during speed-varying inter-station operations, it remains challenging to control VCTS accurately under disturbances while adhering to safety constraints. The control layer employs a model predictive control (MPC) approach to ensure precise reference tracking, based on the optimized reference trajectories for all train units. The effectiveness of this approach is validated through experimental results.