Distributed cooperative control of multiple high-speed trains under a moving block system by nonlinear mapping-based feedback

Although the high-speed railways in China have been greatly advanced in the past decades with respect to expanding networks and increasing speed, a fixed block system, which separates the trains with several stationary track block sections, is utilized to guarantee the safe operation of multiple trains. A moving block system, which enables the moving authority of a high-speed train to be the real-time positioning point of its preceding one (plus some necessary safe redundant distance, of course), is under development to further make full use of the high-speed railway lines and improve the automation level by automatic train operation for high-speed trains. The aim of this paper is to design a distributed cooperative control for high-speed trains under a moving block system by giving a cooperative model with a back-fence communication topology. A nonlinear mapping-based feedback control method together with a rigorous mathematic proof for the global stability and ultimate bound of the closed-loop control systems is proposed. Comparative results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed method.