Trains Virtual Coupling under unreliable communication

The contribution of this work is a control system architecture enabling a safe trains Virtual Coupling in realistic railway communication. Specifically, the proposed architecture addresses unreliability and variability in data communication, ensuring safety through incorporating a safety control barrier function to guarantee operational safety and through a real-time collision prediction block. Further, a real-time cruise distance from the leader train is continuously computed and updated to allow for a smooth follower motion and avoid unnecessary braking. Further, the proposed architecture supports diverse possible control laws and leaves the control designer free to design it (in the paper we propose a switched MPC strategy but other choices are possible). A railway simulation tool for VC scenarios, developed in collaboration with the Italian railway company, validates the effectiveness and potential of the proposed system in advancing safe virtual coupling in railway systems.