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Inevitable irregularities excite a traveling maglev train along a journey by disturbing air gaps and thus modifying levitation forces. For a half bogie which is a rigid coupled structure with a separate levitation unit at each endpoint, the effects of track irregularities hamper the synchronization of the two units. Motivated by the aforementioned, this paper establishes a newly nonlinear model for the half bogie considering irregularities, internal and external disturbances. Based on this model, a prescribed-time synchronization controller (PTSC) considering input constraints is designed while two adaptive disturbance observers (ADOs) are combined to address track irregularities and disturbances. To reduce the actuating times caused by synchronization, a lazy cooperation mode is adopted by independently introducing an event-triggered mechanism for each levitation unit. Theoretical analysis establishes the stability of the whole control scheme and demonstrates that the tracking errors and estimate errors can be arbitrarily small within a prescribed time, which can be determined by users through a parameter, and the synchronization is achieved. Numerical simulations compared with other two control schemes verify the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme, where both the ideal irregularity model and the field data measured from the Shanghai commercial line are tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtual Coupling (VC) is regarded as a breakthrough to the traditional train operation and control for improving the capability and flexibility in railways. It brings benefits as trains under VC are allowed to operate much closer to one another, forming a virtually coupled train set (VCTS). However, the safe and stable spacing between trains in the VCTS is a problem since there are no rigid couplers to connect them into a fixed formation, especially in high-speed scenarios. Due to the close spacing, the interference between trains becomes non-negligible as various maneuvers of the preceding train can significantly affect driving behaviors of the following train; this results in fluctuating spacing and therefore an unstable VCTS. Aiming at minimizing the interference and maintaining constantly safe spacing between trains in the VCTS, this paper presents a distributed model predictive control (DMPC) approach for solving the high-speed VCTS control problem. Particularly, the proposed control method focuses on the feasibility and stability of this problem, with considerations of the coupled constraint of safety braking distance and the individual constraints of speed limit variations and restricted traction/braking performance. To guarantee feasibility and stability, the terminal controller and invariant set of the DMPC are designed. For rigor, sufficient conditions of feasibility and stability are mathematically proved and derived. Based on the data of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway line, numerical experiments are conducted to verify the correctness of derived sufficient conditions and the effectiveness of the proposed control method under interference and disturbances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]