Flying Like Birds: Hierarchical-Egalitarian Switching Based Control Law for Multi-UAV Systems

Abstract

In this paper, we develop a multi-UAV control law based on a switching strategy, which realizes the cooperative control of a multi-UAV system inspired by the flight pattern of bird flocks. The switching strategy ensures that the appropriate flight pattern is switched for different scenarios. There are two flight patterns: the hierarchical pattern (following the head bird) and the egalitarian pattern (following neighbors). The hierarchical pattern is suitable for high maneuverability scenarios, and the egalitarian pattern is appropriate to smooth flight scenarios. Two control inputs are proposed, including a consensus-based and a Vicsek’s model. Either control input can be applied to each flight pattern individually, and by using the Gersgorin discs theorem, we show that the system can converge if certain conditions are satisfied. The simulation results verify the effectiveness of this strategy.