Parameter Optimization and Comparison of Platoon Controllers in an Emergency Braking Scenario

A platoon is a group of vehicles driving close to each other in order to reduce air drag, save fuel (or electric energy) and increase road capacity. In order to avoid accidents due to the reduced gap between the vehicles, the distance is controlled automatically, supported by wireless messages between the vehicles. There exist many different control algorithms and network topologies, but up to now, no comprehensive comparisons have been done. Fair comparisons require that all controllers are simulated with identical use cases and that their parameters are optimized for that use case before the comparsion. This has not yet been done in existing literature. However, in previous theses, an optimization framework has been developed that can be used to find the best parameter values for a controller based on simulation results. The simulations are done with the platoon simulation software Plexe (see https://plexe.car2x.org/).

Goals of the thesis

This thesis concentrates on an emergency braking scenario. Different controllers are optimized and compared using the optimization framework Simopticon. Different start speeds, packet loss rates, and braking initiation times are tested. The simulation results will be validated and evaluated.

Keywords

Simulation, Plexe, Platooning, Control Performance, Optimization, Parametrization, Python, C++

Contact

• B. Hensel