UAVs formation flight control based on following of the guidance points

Abstract

To resolve the formation flight control problem for multiple UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), a method based on following of the guidance points is proposed in the paper. The method is realized with the leader-follower strategy. In the method, the guidance points for the leader vehicle are computed from the expected trajectory, while the points for the followers are obtained from the expected formation, and the guidance points of the leader vehicle. With the guidance points, a nonlinear guidance logic is adopted, to make the vehicles follow the expected trajectory. What's more, a desired speed controller is incorporated, to guarantee the performance of formation keeping, especially when turning. Simulations for different situations were carried out, to verify the performance of the proposed method.