Multi-Rigid-Body Dynamics Modeling and Controller Design for a Connected UAV Formation

This paper proposes a method of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) formation with connecting devices to take advantage of the aerodynamic advantages of the UAV fleet during close range formation flight. By combining the theory of multi-rigid-body system with the traditional six-degree-of-freedom equations of aircraft, a multi-rigid-body dynamics model of the connected UAV formation is established, which can describe the dynamic characteristics of the UAV formation when the formation changes. On this basis, the attitude control system of the UAV formation consisting of UAVs with only one control surface is designed, and the full-state non-linear numerical simulation model of the UAV formation is built in Simulink. The simulation results validate the rationality of the modeling method, and show that the attitude control system designed can effectively deal with the difficulties caused by the coupling of longitudinal and lateral controls and the complex aerodynamic forces of UAV formation.