Distributed Model Predictive Control Based on Predictive Spacing Strategy for Heterogeneous Vehicle Formation with Constraints

This paper considers the vehicle formation problem with nonlinear and heterogeneous dynamic model and constraint conditions. A predictive spacing strategy (PSS) is put forward, which utilized the present velocity information of the vehicle to predict the distance traveled over a period of time. A distributed model predictive control (DMPC) based on the new PSS is presented for the heterogeneous vehicle formation with velocity, acceleration constraints and general communication topology. A sufficient condition to ensure the asymptotic stability of the vehicle formation is derived, and the design process of the distributed model predictive control is given. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed PSS and DMPC algorithm is proved by experimental simulation, and the results show it can effectively improve the effectiveness of vehicle formation.