US-12626600-B2 - System and method for autonomously maneuvering vehicle nodes in a platoon

US12626600B2US 12626600 B2US12626600 B2US 12626600B2US-12626600-B2

Abstract

Techniques are provided for autonomously maneuvering vehicle nodes in a platoon. The method includes receiving a value of a position at a first time increment of a second vehicle node. The method further includes determining a value of a first parameter based on the first data. The method further includes receiving, at the first vehicle node, a value of the position of the second vehicle node at a second time increment. The method further includes determining a value of a second parameter based on the second data. The method further includes determining a value of a third parameter based on the value of the first parameter and the value of the second parameter. The method further includes comparing the value of the third parameter with a threshold value for the third parameter and controlling a value of a speed of the first vehicle node.

Inventors

Katia Obraczka
Shesha Sreenivasamurthy

Assignees

THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20230424

Claims (6)

1 . A vehicle node, comprising: a positioning sensor configured to measure a location of the vehicle node; an antenna configured to transmit and receive signals from other vehicle nodes of a platoon within a communication range of the vehicle node; a mobility component configured to facilitate movement of the vehicle node; a support to couple the mobility component with the positioning sensor and the antenna; at least one processor; and at least one memory including one or more sequences of instructions, the at least one memory and the one or more sequences of instructions configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the vehicle node to perform at least the steps of a) receiving directly from a second vehicle node, at the antenna, first data that indicates a value of a location at a first time increment of the second vehicle node within the platoon traveling along the path; b) determining, with the processor, a value of a first parameter based on the first data and a measured location of the vehicle node at the first time increment from the positioning sensor; c) receiving directly from a second vehicle node, at the antenna, second data that indicates a value of the location of the second vehicle node at a second time increment after the first time increment; d) determining, with the processor, a value of a second parameter based on the second data and a measured location of the vehicle node at the second time increment from the positioning sensor; e) determining, with the processor, a value of a third parameter based on the value of the first parameter and the value of the second parameter received directly from the second vehicle node; f) comparing, with the processor, the value of the third parameter with a threshold value for the third parameter; and g) controlling, with the mobility component, a value of a speed of the vehicle node based on the comparing step; wherein the value of the first parameter is an inverse of a value of a gap between the vehicle node and the second vehicle node at the first time increment; wherein the value of the second parameter is an inverse of a value of a gap between the vehicle node and the second vehicle node at the second time increment; and wherein the value of the gap is based on a difference between the measured value of the position of the vehicle node and the value of the position of the second vehicle node.
2 . The vehicle node as recited in claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the one or more sequences of instructions are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the vehicle node to further perform at least the steps of: determining, with the processor, a value of a speed of the second vehicle node between the first time increment and the second time increment, based on the first data and the second data; wherein step g) comprises controlling the value of the speed of the vehicle node based on the value of the speed of the second vehicle node.
3 . The vehicle node as recited in claim 1 , wherein step g) comprises increasing, with the mobility component, the value of the speed of the vehicle node above the value of the speed of the second vehicle node based on the comparing step indicating that the value of the third parameter is less than the value of the threshold value of the third parameter.
4 . The vehicle node as recited in claim 2 , wherein step g) comprises decreasing the value of the speed of the vehicle node below the value of the speed of the second vehicle node based on the comparing step indicating that the value of the third parameter is greater than the value of the threshold value of the third parameter.
5 . The vehicle node as recited in claim 2 , wherein the receiving steps a) and c) each comprise receiving, at the vehicle node, a message at each time increment from the second vehicle node, said message having a plurality of data fields comprising a first data field that indicates the value of the position of the second vehicle node at each time increment, a second data field that indicates an identifier of the platoon and a third data field that indicates a role of the second vehicle node within the platoon having the identifier in the second field.
6 . The vehicle node as recited in claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the one or more sequences of instructions are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the vehicle node to further perform at least the step of storing, in a data structure, a plurality of data fields with data pertaining to the vehicle node including a first data field to store an identifier of a platoon that includes the vehicle node and a second data field to store a role of the vehicle node within the platoon having the identifier in the first field, wherein the stored role in the second data field is a joining member role.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims benefit of Provisional Appln. 63/333,869, filed Apr. 22, 2022, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein, under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e). BACKGROUND According to the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), platooning is a coordinated operation of two or more vehicle nodes via cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC). Platooning provides a number of benefits, including: fuel efficiency, road capacity, and road safety. Early research on platooning and automated vehicular systems mainly focused on steady-state cruising stage, which regulates speed and inter-vehicle node spacing. The problems of platoon maneuvering such as formation and dissolution have been less explored and only recently have started to receive attention from researchers and practitioners. SUMMARY Techniques are provided for a system and method for autonomously maneuvering vehicle nodes in a platoon. A novel decentralized platooning scheme is disclosed, which uses simple rules that vehicle nodes follow to carry out platooning maneuvers. Maneuvers such as join and exit emerge as a result of vehicle nodes following these rules. Conventional methods for maneuvering vehicle nodes in a platoon include centralized platooning systems, where all platooning activities are coordinated by a leader, usually the vehicle node at the front of the platoon. Like any centralized system, the inventors of the present invention recognized that these centralized platooning systems suffer from drawbacks such as single point of failure and performance bottleneck (at the leader), as well as shorter platoon-length and data loss due to longer range communication from the leader. To address the drawbacks of central platooning systems, decentralized platooning systems were proposed, where there is no platoon leader and vehicle nodes interact only with neighboring vehicle nodes to complete the maneuvers. Localized interactions allow decentralized platooning systems to handle longer platoons. The inventors of the present invention recognized that generally, conventional platooning systems, known as deliberate systems, adopt top-down approaches where high-level objectives, in this case, the maneuvers, are defined and then workflows, including message exchange, specific for each maneuver are defined. The inventors of the present invention developed an alternative platooning approach to these deliberate systems that adopts a bottom-up approach. This alternative platooning approach first lays out basic rules of interaction, which vehicle nodes would then follow to carry out the platooning maneuver. In a first set of embodiments, a method is provided for autonomously maneuvering vehicle nodes in a platoon. The method includes receiving, at a first vehicle node, first data that indicates a value of a position at a first time increment of a second vehicle node among a plurality of vehicle nodes within a platoon traveling along a path. The method further includes determining a value of a first parameter based on the first data and a measured value of a position of the first vehicle node at the first time increment. The method further includes receiving, at the first vehicle node, second data that indicates a value of the position of the second vehicle node at a second time increment after the first time increment. The method further includes determining a value of a second parameter based on the second data and a measured value of the position of the first vehicle node at the second time increment. The method further includes determining a value of a third parameter based on the value of the first parameter and the value of the second parameter. The method further includes comparing the value of the third parameter with a threshold value for the third parameter. The method further includes controlling a value of a speed of the first vehicle node based on the comparing step. In a second set of embodiments, a method is provided for autonomously maneuvering vehicle nodes in a platoon. The method includes storing, in a data structure, a plurality of data fields including a first data field to store an identifier of a first platoon and a second data field to store a role of a first vehicle node within the first platoon identified by the first data field. The method further includes receiving, at the first vehicle node, a first message from a second vehicle node having a plurality of data fields including a first data field that indicates an identifier of a second platoon of the second vehicle node and a second data field that indicates a role of the second vehicle node within the second platoon identified by the first data field. The method further includes determining that the identifier of the second platoon in the first data field of the first message does not correspond to the identifier of the first platoon in the first data field of the data structure. The method fu