Flight formation of multiple mini rotorcraft based on nested saturations

This paper addresses the coordination and trajectory tracking control design for a multiple mini rotorcraft system. The dynamic model of the mini rotorcraft is presented using the Newton-Euler formalism. Our approach is based on a leader/follower structure of multiple robot systems. A nonlinear controller based on nested saturations and a multi-agent consensus control are combined to obtain a flight formation control for a multiple mini rotorcraft system. The centroid of the coordinated control subsystem is used for trajectory tracking purposes. The analytic results are supported by simulation tests.

[1]  George J. Pappas,et al.  Stable flocking of mobile agents part I: dynamic topology , 2003, 42nd IEEE International Conference on Decision and Control (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37475).

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

[3]  P. Castillo,et al.  Stabilization of a mini rotorcraft with four rotors , 2005, IEEE Control Systems.

[4]  Andrea Serrani,et al.  ISS-Based Robust Leader/Follower Trailing Control , 2006 .

[5]  Reza Olfati-Saber,et al.  Flocking for multi-agent dynamic systems: algorithms and theory , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control.

[6]  Wei Ren.  Consensus Seeking in Multi-vehicle Systems with a Time-varying Reference State , 2007, 2007 American Control Conference.

[7]  A. Teel.  Global stabilization and restricted tracking for multiple integrators with bounded controls , 1992 .

[8]  Bernard Mettler,et al.  System identification modeling of a small-scale unmanned rotorcraft for flight control design , 2002 .

[9]  Rogelio Lozano,et al.  Stabilization of a mini-rotorcraft having four rotors , 2004, 2004 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37566).

[10]  Randal W. Beard,et al.  A coordination architecture for spacecraft formation control , 2001, IEEE Trans. Control. Syst. Technol..

[11]  Perry Y. Li,et al.  Formation and maneuver control of multiple spacecraft , 2003, Proceedings of the 2003 American Control Conference, 2003..

[12]  Thor I. Fossen,et al.  Formation Control of Marine Surface Vessels Using the Null-Space-Based Behavioral Control , 2006 .

[13]  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.

[14]  Naomi Ehrich Leonard,et al.  Virtual leaders, artificial potentials and coordinated control of groups , 2001, Proceedings of the 40th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (Cat. No.01CH37228).

[15]  P.F. Hokayem,et al.  Reliable Control of Multi-Agent Formations , 2007, 2007 American Control Conference.

[16]  Lorenzo Marconi,et al.  Robust nonlinear motion control of a helicopter , 2003, IEEE Trans. Autom. Control..

[17]  Tucker R. Balch,et al.  Behavior-based formation control for multirobot teams , 1998, IEEE Trans. Robotics Autom..

[18]  Rogelio Lozano,et al.  Controllability and observability of leader-based multi-agent systems , 2008, 2008 47th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control.

[19]  Roland Siegwart,et al.  PID vs LQ control techniques applied to an indoor micro quadrotor , 2004, 2004 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37566).

[20]  W.C. Messner,et al.  Design and flight testing of a gain-scheduled H/sub /spl infin// loop shaping controller for wide-envelope flight of a robotic helicopter , 2003, Proceedings of the 2003 American Control Conference, 2003..

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

[22]  George J. Pappas,et al.  Stable flocking of mobile agents, part I: fixed topology , 2003, 42nd IEEE International Conference on Decision and Control (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37475).

[23]  Antonio Loria,et al.  Output Feedback Control of Relative Translation in a Leader-Follower Spacecraft Formation , 2006 .