Energy-Efficient Coordination of Multiple-UAV Systems
Gabriele Ribichini, Emilio Frazzoli · AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference and Exhibit · 2003
In this paper we address the problem of planning the motion of several independent aircraft, with the objective of reducing a measure of the overall cost of motion (e.g., fuel consumption). To this purpose, the aircraft are willing to coordinate their motion, for example by temporarily joining a formation with others, if and when appropriate. However, since joining other aircraft in a formation might require a detour from the current objective, and as a consequence a “longer” path, it must first be established that the detour will actually result in a reduced expenditure in terms of energy consumption or other meaningful cost. Analyzing this issue is the main purpose of this paper. Formation flight will not be imposed a priori on the system, but the decision to join a formation is entirely characterized as the optimal solution to an cost minimization problem. We will present and discuss the complete solution for two-aircraft systems; based on this, we will develop a distributed algorithm for use with systems composed of several aircraft, with communication constraints. Simulation examples are presented.