Multi-UAV Distributed Control for Load Transportation in Precision Agriculture
Aditya Gajanan Hegde, Debasish Ghose · AIAA Scitech 2020 Forum · 2020
Multi-agent load transportation in the context of the agriculture spraying application is discussed in this paper. The problem is constructed using a distance-based formation control approach, with a pair of agents carrying a load and following a target center. The agents are first modeled as kinematic systems, and then as quadrotors with linear and nonlinear dynamics. A control algorithm is proposed and applied to the cases of stationary, non-accelerating and accelerating target centers. The stability of the formation control algorithm is proved and then ascertained with related simulation results for the three cases. Important deductions about the dimension of the control input required to fully control the position of an agent in space are also made, and the motion of the agents in the inertial and body frames are associated. The formation control approach provides modularity and scalability to the transportation problem, and the application of a Proportional Derivative control alleviates the need to design a potential function, as is required by other distance-based formation control algorithms.