Event-triggered Robust Model Predictive Design for Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control Application

Wireless communication among connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) can facilitate cooperative driving, particularly cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC), hence allowing CAVs to safely move closer to each other and improving traffic flow. However, wireless communication presents challenges, such as limited bandwidth. Therefore, unnecessary use of available communication resources could be problematic and affect the performance of the CACC system. This paper presents a resource-aware communication approach to strike a balance between CACC performance and wireless communication usage. The proposed event-triggered, tube-based predictive control approach is capable of avoiding unnecessary information exchange while assuring platoon stability and achieving the desired behavior of CAVs. Simulation studies are conducted to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed control design approach for CACC systems. The simulation results indicate up to 70% reduction in communication instances between vehicles in the CACC system, compared to time-triggered approaches, while performance remains intact.