Title: The design of control systems for automated transport
Abstract: In this thesis, the design of control systems for automated transport is approached from a systems point of view. The first section discusses general aspects of control system design, namely, system structure, design for reliability and communication requirements. The treatment of the subject is novel and in particular, Chapter 2 - 'The Design of 'Fail-Soft' Systems', is completely original. The second section of the thesis discusses in detail, the longitudinal control of vehicles, emergency control and junction control.
In all a novel viewpoint is adopted.
There are two broad categories of transport control, synchronous and asynchronous. The former has been the subject of considerable research, the latter has been completely ignored. This thesis concentrates on asynchronous control. Contrary to the views stated by many researchers, it is shown that asynchronous control can achieve a very much better performance than synchronous controllers. In addition, a completely new form of asynchronous control has been devised, and is presented in this thesis. This scheme, the asynchronous marker-follower control, combines the advantages of synchronous controllers (simple processing and low communication requirements) with the advantages of asynchronous controllers (an efficient use of track and a good response to failures).
In the last section of the thesis, the computer simulation models, used to examine the control schemes, are described. The interactions between automated vehicles are particularly complex, consequently clear presentation is important. To this end a number of graph plotting routines were written and a moving picture display technique developed.
Each Chapter is supported by a bibliography of references particularly relevant to the chapter. In addition a comprehensive bibliography is contained in the Appendices.
Publication Year: 1978
Publication Date: 1978-01-01
Language: en
Type: dissertation
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