AUTOMATIC LONGITUDINAL CONTROL OF A MERGING VEHICLE

Various facets of merging a vehicle into an automated high-speed stream of traffic are considered: a merging sytem structure, a set of typical requirements for an individual merging maneuver, the geometric and time constraints on that manuever, and a simple on-board vehicle controller for accomplishing it. This effort consisted of two parts. The first involves a simulation study of various controller designs and their response to large disturbance conditions (3 percent grade and 13.7-m/s (44-ft/s) wind force). The second was a quasi, full-scale effort in which the behaviour of a specially instrumented dual-mode vehicle was evaluated in various merging situations in which the terminal speed was 26.8 m/s(88 ft/s). The findings to date from this ongoing study are as follows: (a) the details of the trade-off between the minimum required ramp length and the terminal merging error: (b) the development and validation of a model that resulted in data that closely correlated with those from full-scale tests; (c) the parameter range over which this model is valid; and (d) the conditions under which control of a merging vehicle, a corresponding comfortable ride, and excellent disturbance suppression can be obtained. A potential difficulty with the controller studied is the peak tracking error, which could cause difficulty if closely spaced merging vehicles were being simultaneously controlled. Data were also collected for terminal speeds of 30.5 m/s (100 ft/s). The conclusions drawn are the same in both cases. The major shortcoming is the somewhat large peak error incurred in merging operations.

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/sr/sr170/170-048.pdf
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/0360859X
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board (TRB)

  Washington, DC   
• Authors:
  • Fenton, Robert E
  • Bender, James G
• Conference:
  • Conference on Dual-Mode Transportation
  • Location: Washington District of Columbia, United States
  • Date: 1974-5-29 to 1974-5-31
• Publication Date: 1976

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Pagination: p 124
• Monograph Title: Dual-mode transportation
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Board Special Report
  • Issue Number: 170
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0360-859X

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automatic control; Dual mode transportation systems; Merging control; Motor vehicles; Public passenger vehicles; Simulation; Speed; Traffic speed; Vehicle performance
• Uncontrolled Terms: Transit vehicles
• Old TRIS Terms: Merging control system
• Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00149272
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 30 1977 12:00AM