Engineering researchers Meng Yang, Wang Junguo and Bin Liu have published a detailed study on restricted event-triggered intermittent control for high-speed trains operating with time delays. The paper appears in the June 2026 issue of Engineering Computations.

Background on high-speed rail control challenges

High-speed trains face complex dynamics during cruise phases, including state delays from communication lags and input delays in actuator responses. These factors can increase control costs and affect speed tracking accuracy when parameter uncertainties are present.

The REIC approach explained

The authors introduce a restricted event-triggered intermittent control scheme. Control actions activate or deactivate based on state-dependent events rather than fixed time intervals. This method incorporates both state delays and input delays while aiming to lower overall control effort.

Key findings from simulations

Simulations show that as the delay ratio increases, the control rate drops significantly. In cases with only state delay, control actions fell from 44 to 37 and the control rate from 28.84 percent to 16.22 percent. When both state and input delays are considered, control actions decreased from 39 to 24 and the rate from 44.69 percent to 28.26 percent.

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Comparisons with existing methods

The new REIC strategy outperforms time-triggered periodic intermittent control and event-triggered aperiodic intermittent control, achieving roughly 15 percent lower control rates and 5 percent reduced control costs while maintaining stable cruising performance.

Implications for rail engineering and academia

The work provides theoretical support for designing energy-efficient control systems in high-speed rail networks. It also highlights opportunities for further research in event-triggered strategies applied to transportation systems with delays.

Future research directions

Extensions could explore multi-train coordination, real-world implementation on existing rail lines, and integration with emerging sensor technologies to refine event-triggering conditions.

Relevance to higher education programs

Control theory, systems engineering, and transportation research programs at universities worldwide can incorporate these findings into curricula and graduate projects focused on intelligent transportation systems.

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The full paper is available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/org/science/article/abs/pii/S0264440126000571. Authors are credited as Meng Yang, Wang Junguo and Bin Liu.