Adaptive formation control of multiple vertical takeoff and landing UAVs

Abstract

This paper investigates the formation issue of multiple vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) subject to heterogeneous and unavailable inertial parameters. The information interaction among the UAVs is local such that each UAV can just interact with its adjacent UAVs. Based on a hierarchical framework, an adaptive distributed control algorithm is proposed. In particular, a distributed command control is first developed in the position loop to achieve the formation objective. Then, an applied force and a command attitude are extracted from the command control. Finally, an applied force is designed in the attitude loop for the tracking to the command attitude. It is shown in terms of Lyapunov theory that, by implementing the proposed adaptive distributed control algorithm, the VTOL UAVs are capable of accomplishing the formation objective asymptotically. Simulations further validate the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm.