Path driven formation-containment control of multiple UAVs: A path-following framework

Abstract

In this article, a formation-containment control problem of networked unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) guided by multiple leaders evolving along implicit paths is addressed, comprising of a two-layer control design. At the leader layer, by formulating a novel collaborative error associated with projective arc length rather than relative distance, a special path-following control law with characteristics of spatial-temporal decoupling is proposed to allow for a predetermined formation with a desired spacing, successfully evading the unnecessary transient maneuvering behaviors. At the follower layer, under the premise of neighboring interaction, a containment controller is presented that enables several UAVs to enter into the convex hull formed by the leaders. Moreover, unknown system dynamics estimators (USDEs) are elaborated in both layers to accommodate the wind perturbations based on ideal invariant manifold and straightforward filtering operations. The prominent merits are twofold, one is that formation-containment issue is firstly resolved in path-following paradigm, where multiple leaders are cooperatively deployed along the predefined curves without temporal constraints and a consensus in velocity can be achieved without considering uncertainties. Another is that higher adaptiveness against time-varying wind can be implemented using a concise filtering without resorting to prevailing disturbance observers. The input-to-state stability of entire system is proved according to Lyapunov principles. Finally, the efficacy and superiority of suggested method are validated by simulations.