Distributed UAV formation control with two-hop relay protocol
Yun Chai, Kecai Cao · 2017
Distributed formation control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in three-dimensional space is discussed in this paper. In order to achieve a faster consensus seeking, a consensus-based cooperative formation control strategy with the tow-hop relay protocol is proposed. UAV's nonlinear kinetic model is transformed into linear model by feedback linearization and the original control inputs are also transformed into the accelerations in inertial coordinate system's three axes. The consensus protocol in this paper can increase the algebraic connectivity without physically adding or changing any edges in the graph. The consensus based UAV formation control strategy makes UAVs can build up stable and desired formation and move at expected speed. The conditions under which second-order consensus can be reached are proposed. A multi-vehicle formation control example is shown in simulation as an illustrative example.