Cooperative extended state observer based control of vehicle platoons with arbitrarily small time headway

We study platoon control of vehicles with linear third-order longitudinal dynamics under the constant time headway policy. The controller each follower vehicle is only based on its own velocity, acceleration, inter-vehicle distance and velocity difference respect to immediate predecessor, which are all obtained by on-board sensors. develop distributed cooperative extended state observers for followers estimate acceleration differences between adjacent vehicles. Based estimates differences, laws designed. By using stability theory perturbed systems, we show that parameters can be properly designed ensure closed-loop L2 string stabilities any given positive headway. further proposed law ideal model guarantee even if there small parameter uncertainties. Also, simulation results demonstrate robustness against sensing noises, input delays