Control of unmanned aerial vehicle formations using virtual structural approach and trajectory linearisation control method

Abstract

The problem of formation control of unmanned aerial vehicles is tackled. The control laws were developed based on two methods of formation control. These are the virtual leader formation control method and the non-hierarchical method. A decentralised controller was used, so as to distribute the formation keeping effort among the agents. The virtual leader and the virtual centre were used in specifying the trajectory of the formation. To verify the control laws developed, a simulation study was carried out. In the simulation, a homogenous formation of three agents was used. Even though both formation control methods have their merits and demerits, it was concluded that depending on the situation where the formation was needed, one was better suited than the other. The virtual leader formation method is better suited to situations where the trajectory of the individual agents is more important than keeping the shape of the formation rigidly while the non-hierarchical method is better suited to applications where keeping the shape of the formation is more important.