Skip to main content

Echelon Platoon Organisation: A Distributed Approach Based on 2-Spring Virtual Links

  • Conference paper
Artificial Intelligence: Methodology, Systems, and Applications (AIMSA 2012)

Abstract

This paper presents a reactive multi-agent system for echelon platoon organization. Platoon systems are sets of vehicles that move together while keeping a predefined geometrical configuration without any material coupling. Each vehicle represents an autonomous agent that behaves based only on its own perceptions. The distributed platoon organization problem consists in defining the algorithms to be executed by each vehicle’s embedded software, in order to maintain the desired platoon configuration during displacements. Platoon systems found in literature deal generally with column formations adapted to urban or highway transportation systems. Other formations such as line, echelon,... can be encountered in fields like agriculture and the military. In this paper, we focus on the platoon echelon formation.

An approach based on a virtual vehicle-to-vehicle interaction model composed of two springs is proposed. Those virtual springs attach a platoon’s vehicle to its local leader, another platoon’s vehicle. In this work, five different spring’s attachment points are evaluated, to compare them and conclude about the more suitable one, depending on platoon’s trajectory. Eventually, from the evaluation results, it can be conceived to make attachment points evolve during platoon operation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Avanzini, P., Thuilot, B., Martinet, P.: A control strategy taking advantage of inter-vehicle communication for platooning navigation in urban environment. In: IROS 2011 International Workshop on Perception and Navigation for Autonomous Vehicles in Human Environment (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Beard, R.W., Lawton, J., Hadaegh, F.Y.: A feedback architecture for formation control. In: American Control Conference, vol. 6, pp. 4087–4091 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Das, A.K., Fierro, R., Kumar, V., Ostrowski, J.P., Spletzer, J., Taylor, C.J.: A vision-based formation control framework. IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation 18(5), 813–825 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Daviet, P., Parent, M.: Longitudinal and lateral servoing of vehicles in a platoon. In: Proceedings of the IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium, pp. 41–46 (1996) Automatic driving;Platooning techniques

    Google Scholar 

  5. Do, K.D., Pan, J.: Nonlinear formation control of unicycle-type mobile robots. Robotics and Autonomous Systems 55(3), 191–204 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. El-Zaher, M., Contet, J.M., Gruer, P., Gechter, F.: Towards a compositional verification approach for multi-agent systems: Application to platoon system. In: First International workshop on Verification and Validation of Multi-agent Models for Complex Systems, V2CS (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  7. El-Zaher, M., Gechter, F., Gruer, P., Hajjar, M.: A new linear platoon model based on reactive multi-agent systems. In: The 23rd IEEE International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence, ICTAI. IEEE Computer Society (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Hedrick, J.K., Tomizuka, M., Varaiya, P.: Control issues in automated highway systems. IEEE Control Systems 14(6), 21–32 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Jean-Michel, C., Franck, G., Pablo, G., Abder, K.: Physics inspired multiagent system for vehicle platooning. In: Proceedings of the 6th International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, AAMAS 2007, pp. 184:1–184:3. ACM (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Moskwa, J.J., Karl Hedrick, J.: Nonlinear algorithms for automotive engine control. IEEE Control Systems Magazine 10(3), 88–93 (1990)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Scharf, D.P., Hadaegh, F.Y., Ploen, S.R.: A survey of spacecraft formation flying guidance and control. Part ii: control. In: American Control Conference, July 30-July 2, vol. 4, pp. 2976–2985 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Tanner, H.G., Pappas, G.J., Kumar, V.: Leader-to-formation stability. IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation 20(3), 443–455 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Woo, M.J., Choi, J.W.: A relative navigation system for vehicle platooning. In: Proceedings of the 40th SICE Annual Conference, SICE 2001 International Session Papers (IEEE Cat. No.01TH8603), pp. 28–31 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

El Zaher, M., Contet, JM., Gechter, F., Koukam, A. (2012). Echelon Platoon Organisation: A Distributed Approach Based on 2-Spring Virtual Links. In: Ramsay, A., Agre, G. (eds) Artificial Intelligence: Methodology, Systems, and Applications. AIMSA 2012. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 7557. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33185-5_28

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33185-5_28

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-33184-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-33185-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics