Besides automated controllers, the
information flow among vehicles can significantly affect
the dynamics of a platoon. This paper studies the
influence of information flow topology on the closed-loop
stability of homogeneous vehicular platoon moving in a
rigid formation. A linearized vehicle longitudinal
dynamic model is derived using the exact feedback
linearization technique, which accommodates the inertial
delay of powertrain dynamics. Directed graphs are
adopted to describe different types of allowable
information flow interconnecting vehicles, including both
radar-based sensors and V2V communications. Under
linear feedback controllers, a unified closed-loop stability
theorem is proved by using the algebraic graph theory
and Routh–Hurwitz stability criterion. The theorem
explicitly establishes the stabilization threshold of linear
controller gains for platoons with a large class of different
information flow topologies. Numerical simulations are
used to illustrate the results.
