Method for monitoring a vehicle convoy by means of vehicle-to-vehicle communication
The present invention relates to a method for monitoring a vehicle convoy containing at least two vehicles ( 1.1, 1.2 ), wherein the at least two vehicles ( 1.1, 1.2 ) in the vehicle convoy are each formed with a communication system, which is configured to use vehicle-to-vehicle communication to send and/or receive information, and a measuring apparatus, which is configured to capture values for at least one kinematic state parameter. The method involves kinematic state parameters being ascertained and regulated for at least one pair of vehicles ( 1.1, 1.2 ) in the vehicle convoy, which pair is formed by a first vehicle ( 1.1 ) in the vehicle convoy and a second vehicle ( 1.2 ) in the vehicle convoy arranged directly after the first vehicle ( 1.1 ) in the vehicle convoy, by means of allocated time and frequency resources.
1 . A method for controlling a vehicle platoon containing at least two three vehicles, the at least three vehicles including a pair of vehicles comprising a first vehicle arranged directly ahead of a second vehicle in the vehicle platoon,
wherein the pair of vehicles comprise a communication system configured to transmit and/or receive information by means of vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and
wherein the second vehicle is designed to regulate control of the second vehicle based on values for at least one kinematic control parameter received from the first vehicle in order to adjust values for at least one kinematic state parameter of the second vehicle to kinematic targets,
the method comprising:
(a) determining a maximum delay time for the vehicle-to-vehicle communication such that at least one condition for maintaining a string stability of the vehicle platoon is fulfilled, the at least one condition depending on the kinematic targets and vehicle-specific control parameters, wherein the maximum delay time for the vehicle-to-vehicle communication corresponds to a maximum time interval between consecutive transmissions of values for the at least one kinematic control parameter from the first vehicle to the second vehicle without breaching the string stability; and
(b) determining transmission resources for at least one data transmission session for the vehicle-to-vehicle communication between the first vehicle and the second vehicle based on the maximum delay time,
wherein the transmission resources are determined such that the values for the at least one kinematic control parameter can be transmitted by the first vehicle using the transmission resources and received by the second vehicle in time intervals less than the maximum delay time.
2 . The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that at least the first vehicle of the pair of vehicles receives information about the transmission resources determined for the vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and the values for the at least one kinematic control parameter are transmitted in accordance with said information by the first vehicle and received by the second vehicle.
3 . The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that the kinematic targets are specified based on destination parameters and the vehicle-specific control parameters that are provided at least partly by vehicles in the vehicle platoon.
4 . The method according to claim 3 , characterized in that the destination parameters include at least one or more destinations, one or more routes, a maximum speed permitted along the one or more routes, and/or traffic information.
5 . The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that during vehicle platooning each vehicle in the vehicle platoon is assigned a vehicle identification number and destination specifications are defined, wherein vehicle platooning involves plural steps starting prior to specification of the kinematic targets and/or after an external event has occurred.
6 . The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that
the kinematic targets include at least:
specified targets for a speed of the vehicles of the pair of vehicles along a route, or
a headway distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle of the at least one pair of vehicles, or
a headway time between the first vehicle and the second vehicle of the at least one pair of vehicles;
or
the at least one kinematic state parameter includes at least
time-dependent measured values for the speed of the first vehicle or of the second vehicle of the pair of vehicles, or
the headway distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle of the pair of vehicles, or
the headway time between the first vehicle and the second vehicle of the pair of vehicles.
7 . The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that the vehicle-specific control parameters include at least vehicle identification numbers, model parameters of a regulator and/or model parameters of a control loop.
8 . The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that the at least one condition for the string stability is based on a cooperative adaptive cruise control model (CACC), taking into account the kinematic targets and the vehicle-specific control parameters.
9 . The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that the at least one data transmission session includes a plurality of resource blocks arranged periodically in time, wherein a time interval between adjacent resource blocks arranged one immediately after the other in time is defined by a period duration of the at least one data transmission session, which is smaller than the maximum delay time.
10 . The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that the at least one data transmission session is a semi-persistent data transmission session.
11 . The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that the transmission resources determined for the vehicles in the vehicle platoon satisfy a half-duplex condition, and that resource blocks allocated to two immediately successive vehicles in the vehicle platoon for the transmission of information do not overlap in time.
12 . The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that at least two data transmission sessions are allocated to the pair of vehicles in the vehicle platoon as transmission resources for transmitting and/or receiving information by means of the vehicle-to-vehicle communication, wherein the at least two data transmission sessions have the same period duration but different starting times, and a time interval between the starting times is less than the period duration of the sessions.
13 . The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that the first vehicle of the pair of vehicles sends the values for the at least one kinematic control parameter as information to the second vehicle of the pair of vehicles-with a time interval that is less than 20 ms.
14 . The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that the kinematic control parameter includes at least acceleration of the first vehicle of the at least one pair of vehicles.
15 . The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that the kinematic targets are redefined due to at least one external event during a journey and steps (a) and (b) are performed with the new kinematic targets that replace the kinematic targets defined before the point in time that the at least one external event occurred.
16 . The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that each of the at least three vehicles in the vehicle platoon includes a cooperative adaptive cruise control system (CACC) configured to regulate control of the respective vehicle in the vehicle platoon by means of a closed-loop control system, and/or a satellite positioning system.
17 . The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that the at least one communication system which is configured to transmit and/or receive information by means of vehicle-to-vehicle communication is also configured to transmit or receive information to/from a base station (BS) of a mobile communication network by means of vehicle-to-vehicle communication.
18 . The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that the communication systems of the at least three vehicles in the vehicle platoon are configured for the vehicle-to-vehicle communication in such a way that the values for the at least one kinematic control parameter are transmitted as information only unidirectionally along the vehicle platoon between any two successive vehicles in the vehicle platoon.
19 . The method according to claim 1 , characterized in that the vehicle platoon includes a lead vehicle arranged at the start of the vehicle platoon in the direction of travel, an organizer vehicle configured to exchange information between the organizer vehicle and all the other vehicles in the vehicle platoon via the vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and/or a network vehicle configured to exchange information between the network vehicle and a base station (BS) via a vehicle-to-network communication.
20 . A system comprising a vehicle platoon manager designed to carry out the method according to claim 1 .