Evaluation of CACC string stability using SUMO, Simulink, and OMNeT++

Recent development in wireless technology enables communication between vehicles. The concept of cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC)–which uses wireless communication between vehicles–aims at string stable behavior in a platoon of vehicles. “String stability” means any non-zero position, speed, and acceleration errors of an individual vehicle in a string do not amplify when they propagate upstream. In this article, we will discuss the string stability of CACC and evaluate its performance under varying packet loss ratios, beacon sending frequencies, and time headway settings in simulation experiments. The simulation framework is built up with a controller prototype, a traffic simulator, and a network simulator.