Decentralized controllers for unmanned aerial vehicle formation flight

This paper investigates the control problems associated with autonomous vehicles in formation flight. An inviscid flow model of formation flight explains the increase in efficiency, and describes the effects that the craft in the formation have on each other. Decentralized controllers are investigated for a formation of five aircraft. The formation consists of a single line, with each plane flying one wingspan behind the plane to its left, with its left wingtip aligned with the right wingtip of the leading plane. The controllers are derived using a linear model of the system dynamics, and evaluated in a linear simulation and in a simulation incorporating a vortex-lattice aerodynamics routine. (Author)