Platoon Speed Control Using Predicted Link Quality and Gap Adaptation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing platooning technologies fail to efficiently manage inter-vehicle distances and fuel consumption, leading to suboptimal fuel efficiency and safety margins due to unpredictable communication link quality, especially in high-density platooning scenarios.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that adapt vehicle speeds based on predicted quality of service (pQoS) to determine optimal inter-vehicle distances, considering fuel consumption and safety margins, using a control module and communication interfaces to iteratively adjust distances based on pQoS timeseries and confidence intervals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If inter-vehicle distances are reduced to improve fuel efficiency, then fuel consumption decreases, but safety margins and communication reliability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts inter-vehicle distances based on predicted communication quality. When communication conditions are favorable, vehicles reduce distances to minimize fuel consumption. When conditions deteriorate, distances increase to maintain safety and communication reliability. This dynamic adaptation resolves the contradiction by making the distance parameter variable rather than fixed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses predicted quality of service (pQoS) information to anticipate future communication conditions and pre-adjusts inter-vehicle distances accordingly. By acting on predicted future states rather than reacting to current conditions, the system can maintain optimal distances while ensuring safety margins are preserved before communication failures occur.
2Use of energy by moving object
If inter-vehicle distances are reduced to improve fuel efficiency, then fuel consumption decreases, but detection and reaction time deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
By using predicted quality of service information, the system performs preliminary adjustments to inter-vehicle distances before communication conditions actually deteriorate. This allows vehicles to maintain smaller distances during favorable conditions (reducing fuel consumption) while having advance warning to increase distances when conditions worsen, preserving detection and reaction time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors communication quality and uses this feedback to adjust inter-vehicle distances. The feedback loop ensures that when communication reliability drops, the system responds by increasing distances, thereby maintaining adequate detection and reaction time while minimizing fuel consumption during favorable conditions.
3Reliability
If vehicle speeds are adjusted to maintain safety margins, then safety is improved, but fuel efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts both speed and distance parameters based on predicted communication quality. Rather than maintaining fixed conservative speeds, the system optimizes speed profiles alongside distance adjustments, achieving safety margins while minimizing the fuel consumption impact of speed adjustments.
4Reliability
If communication link quality is improved to ensure safety, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces a predicted quality of service (pQoS) mechanism as an intermediary that provides advance information about communication conditions. This intermediary layer allows the control system to make informed decisions about distance and speed adjustments without requiring complex real-time communication protocols, thereby improving reliability while managing system complexity.
Data Source
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AI summary
Embodiments provide a vehicle, a traffic control entity, a method, a computer program, and an apparatus for adapting a speed of vehicles in a platoon. The method (10) for adapting a speed of vehicles in a platoon comprises obtaining (12) information related to a future course of required minimum inter-vehicular distances of the vehicles of the platoon. The method (10) further comprises adapting (14) a speed of the vehicles of the platoon based on the information related to the future course of the required minimum inter-vehicular distances, and a fuel consumption of the vehicles of the platoon.