Automatic Feedback Cruising Control of the Aeromovel Automated People Mover

Aeromovel consists of a new concept of steel-wheel steel-rail automated people mover (APM). The operation procedure depends on a propulsion system based upon the use of pneumatic power systems that insufflate pressured air inside a duct where a rodless piston connected to the vehicle is driven. In the traditional configuration of the Aeromovel, the power system is designed and adjusted for operating with open loop control strategies. In recent years, Aeromovel application have significantly expanded, resulting in new challenges to be overcome, especially that associated with different trajectories that the vehicles must be performed due to geometric restriction imposed by existent airports' architectural configurations. Aiming at overcoming these difficulties, a novel automatic driving strategy, based on feedback control, is being developed for the vehicle cruising control. This article deals with this new challenge and the design of the feedback cruising control algorithms that are being developed, including numerical results achieved by simulation performed with a suitable physical model of the system. The closed loop strategy is based on the definition of a desired velocity trajectory that is tracked by driving the blower based pneumatic power system to increase or decrease the effective force applied to the vehicle, forcing the trajectory to converge to the desired one. In this work, the design of the closed loop algorithm and the simulation results using a comprehensive model are addressed, showing the effectiveness of the proposed cruising control strategy. The new line that is being developed to operate in GRU Airport-Sao Paulo-BR main's airport-is used as a case-study for availing the analysis strategy.