Explicit Model Following Distributed Control Scheme for Formation Flying of Mini UAVs

A centralized heterogeneous formation flight position control scheme has been formulated using an explicit model following design, based on a Linear Quadratic Regulator Proportional Integral (LQR PI) controller. The leader quadcopter is a stable reference model with desired dynamics whose output is perfectly tracked by the two wingmen quadcopters. The leader itself is controlled through the pole placement control method with desired stability characteristics, while the two followers are controlled through a robust and adaptive LQR PI control method. Selected 3-D formation geometry and static stability are maintained under a number of possible perturbations. With this control scheme, formation geometry may also be switched to any arbitrary shape during flight, provided a suitable collision avoidance mechanism is incorporated. In case of communication loss between the leader and any of the followers, the other follower provides the data, received from the leader, to the affected follower. The stability of the closed-loop system has been analyzed using singular values. The proposed approach for the tightly coupled formation flight of mini unmanned aerial vehicles has been validated with the help of extensive simulations using MATLAB/Simulink, which provided promising results.

[1]  Frank L. Lewis,et al.  Aircraft Control and Simulation , 1992 .

[2]  Eugene Lavretsky,et al.  Robust and Adaptive Control Methods for Aerial Vehicles , 2015 .

[3]  Rogelio Lozano,et al.  Real-time stabilization and tracking of a four rotor mini-rotorcraft , 2003 .

[4]  Vijay Kumar,et al.  Opportunities and challenges with autonomous micro aerial vehicles , 2012, Int. J. Robotics Res..

[5]  Gene F. Franklin,et al.  Feedback Control of Dynamic Systems , 1986 .

[6]  Vijay Kumar,et al.  Decentralized formation control with variable shapes for aerial robots , 2012, 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[7]  Hyo-Sang Shin,et al.  Nonlinear Model Predictive Control for Multiple UAVs Formation Using Passive Sensing , 2011 .

[8]  Sergio Montenegro,et al.  A Review on Distributed Control of Cooperating Mini UAVS , 2014 .

[9]  Rogelio Lozano,et al.  Flight formation of multiple mini rotorcraft via coordination control , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[10]  Rogelio Lozano,et al.  Real-time embedded control system for VTOL aircrafts: Application to stabilize a quad-rotor helicopter , 2006, 2006 IEEE Conference on Computer Aided Control System Design, 2006 IEEE International Conference on Control Applications, 2006 IEEE International Symposium on Intelligent Control.

[11]  Q. Ali,et al.  A SIMPLE APPROACH TO QUADROCOPTER FORMATION FLYING TEST SETUP FOR EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT , 2015 .

[12]  Huibert Kwakernaak,et al.  Linear Optimal Control Systems , 1972 .

[13]  Frank L. Lewis,et al.  Cooperative Control of Multi-Agent Systems: Optimal and Adaptive Design Approaches , 2013 .

[14]  K. Sobel,et al.  A design methodology for pitch pointing flight control systems , 1985 .

[15]  Biao Wang,et al.  Formation flight of unmanned rotorcraft based on robust and perfect tracking approach , 2012, 2012 American Control Conference (ACC).

[16]  Herbert Werner,et al.  An ℌ∞/ℓ1 approach to cooperative control of multi-agent systems , 2012, 2012 IEEE 51st IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC).

[17]  R. Stephenson.  A and V , 1962, The British journal of ophthalmology.

[18]  Youdan Kim,et al.  Optimized feedforward design scheme unifying regulator and command generator tracker , 1996 .

[19]  Mehran Mesbahi,et al.  UAV Swarms: Models and Effective Interfaces , 2015 .

[20]  Vijay Kumar,et al.  Cooperative Grasping and Transport Using Multiple Quadrotors , 2010, DARS.

[21]  Richard M. Murray,et al.  INFORMATION FLOW AND COOPERATIVE CONTROL OF VEHICLE FORMATIONS , 2002 .

[22]  Stefania Tonetti,et al.  Distributed Control of Antenna Array with Formation of UAVs , 2011 .

[23]  Herbert Werner,et al.  A robust control approach to formation control , 2009, 2009 European Control Conference (ECC).

[24]  Shuang Li,et al.  Command generator tracker based direct model reference adaptive tracking guidance for Mars atmospheric entry , 2012 .

[25]  M. Imran Rashid,et al.  Adaptive control of a quadrotor with unknown model parameters , 2012, Proceedings of 2012 9th International Bhurban Conference on Applied Sciences & Technology (IBCAST).