Safety Comparison Of Vehicular Platoons Under Different Bidirectional Communication Topologies A Signal Analysis Method

This paper conducts a comparative analysis of bidirectional communication topologies in vehicular platooning, emphasizing their impact on safety during travel. Introducing two novel metrics, the Accumulative Minimum Time to Collision (AMTTC) and Accumulative Deceleration Rate to Avoid Collision (ADRAC), the study evaluates collision susceptibility between neighboring vehicles, taking into consideration their relative velocities and accelerations. Utilizing platoon dynamics based on intervehicle distances and their derivatives, the analysis captures the evolving vehicle behaviors over travel time. Results highlight the safety benefits of communication topologies where follower vehicles receive information from more preceding vehicles, particularly when incorporating the leader vehicle’s state. This research underscores the significance of information exchange within vehicular platoons and offers insights for providing more safety through design of communication structure in automated driving scenarios in vehicular platooning.