NMPC-based UAV-USV cooperative tracking and landing

Abstract

The study aims to solve the problem of real time tracking and precise landing of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) during unmanned surface vehicle (USV) navigation. In this paper, a UAV-USV cooperative tracking and landing control strategy based on nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) is proposed. Firstly, the UAV-USV heterogeneous intelligent body collaborative system is constructed based on the mathematical model of UAV and USV; secondly, the tracking controller is designed based on NMPC algorithm to ensure that the UAV can track the USV in real time; finally, a UAV-USV cooperative landing control strategy is proposed to realize the heave motion of the USV to the peak vertex, thus, the UAV completes the precise landing with the minimum impact. As the simulation experimental results show, the UAV-USV cooperative tracking and landing control scheme proposed in this paper can provide effective solution against real time tracking and accurate landing of UAV during the navigation of USV.