Tube-Based Distributed MPC for Heterogeneous Vehicle Platoons Subject to External Disturbances

This paper considers the platoon control problem with external disturbances and unknown desired set point in heterogeneous vehicles. To this end, this paper proposes a dis-tributed tube model predictive control method. First, the coupling factors between vehicles are treated as random disturbance and an error model for each vehicle is developed considering the expected distance and velocity. Then, for each vehicle that is dy-namically decoupled but spatially constrained, a linear feedback controller is used to maintain the actual trajectory within the pipeline around the nominal system trajectory. Second, in the implementation of the optimization problem, input saturation and string stability are considered as state constraints, and the DTMPC controller is designed and does not require all nodes to know the desired set point in advance. This approach significantly enhances computational efficiency and reduces inter-vehicle communication costs compared to previous methods. The simulation results show that the proposed method can ensure stability when the platoon is subjected to external disturbances.