A cooperative control approach of UAV autonomous formation and reconfiguration

Inspired by hierarchical structure and consensus theory, a relatively universal and simple cooperative approach of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is proposed to achieve autonomous formation and reconfiguration. First, UAV cooperative mechanism is established by introducing distributed structure and hierarchical network, based on multi-UAV system made up of commander, virtual leaders and followers. Secondly, movement rules of virtual leader and UAV follower are given in constraint conditions, as well as control strategy of collision avoidance. Finally, a series of simulation experiments are carried out to verify the cooperative control approach. Results show that: UAVs can effectively accomplish autonomous formation which can also be reconfigured efficiently by adjusting hierarchy.