Multi-UAV formation controller design with uncertain dynamics

Abstract

Aiming at the flight-instability of the closed-loop system in windy field of three fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) formation. In this paper, we design a multi-UAV formation controller to address the flight-stability of multiple UAVs. The problem of flight-stability can be converted to the analysis of dynamic response and steady-state error. The robust control compared with thin membrane control method, it can realize the high speed and close cooperative formation of precision combat. Adding thin membrane is not only capable of reducing the body vibration and steady-state tracking error, but also owns better robustness. The proposed controller can control leader's speed so that follower can track leader in the case of decoupling, while maintaining the consensus of relative speed. The simulation results show that the designed controller integrates the advantages of robust control and thin membrane vibration attenuation. Moreover, this control method can not only improve the response speed, convergence time and stability of the control system, but also realize the aim of the precision cooperative combat ability.