Multiple UAV/UGV Heterogeneous Control

Abstract

Multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can be used to cover large areas searching for targets. However, sensors on UAVs are typically limited in operating airspeed and altitude, combined with attitude uncertainty, placing a lower limit on their ability to resolve and localize ground features. Unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) can be deployed to accurately locate ground targets, but they have the disadvantage of not being able to move rapidly or see through such obstacles as buildings or fences. This chapter mainly focuses on heterogeneous coordinated control for multiple UAVs/UGVs and cooperative search problem for multiple UAVs. On the basis of introduction of UAV/UGV mathematical model, the characteristics of heterogeneous flocking is analyzed in detail. Two key issues are considered in multiple UGV subgroups, which are Reynolds rule and Virtual Leader (VL). Receding horizon control (RHC) with particle swarm optimization (PSO) is proposed for multiple UGV flocking, and velocity vector control approach is adopted for multiple UAV flocking. Thus, multiple UAV and UGV heterogeneous tracking can be achieved by these two approaches. Then a time-delay compensation approach of heterogeneous network control for multiple UAVs and UGVs is described to handle the time delay in network control system. What’s more, a differential evolution (DE)-based RHC design for cooperative area search using multiple UAVs is presented. In this approach, an extended search map is used to represent the environment information on the search region.