Multi-Agent Bifurcation Consensus-Based Multi-Layer UAVs Formation Keeping Control and Its Visual Simulation

Abstract

This paper focuses on the mult-layer unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) formation keeping control issue based on multi-agent bifurcation consensus. Taking the two-layer formation as an example, due to delays in receiving and responding to signals, the intra-layer and inter-layer control schemes under the dynamic properties need to be considered. Firstly, the UAV heading autopilot is designed to fully consider the control of the angle of attack and yaw angle, which is utilized to deal with the translational and angular motion of UAV. Based on the heading autopilot, the stability and Hopf bifurcation conditions of UAVs heading dynamic system are discussed to get real-time state information and generate control input. Secondly, the leader-following formation combined with the virtual control structure to obtain a virtual hierarchical control strategy, and then a bifurcation consensus criterion. The results shown that when UAVs heading control system achieves bifurcation consensus. The formation maintains the shape while showing interesting periodic oscillation motion behavior. Finally, a numerical example is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the presented control strategy. Particularly, visualization simulation using 3ds Max software makes the results more intuitive and flexible.