Abstract
The formation of multi-quadrotor UAVs (QUAVs) in long flights will encounter many constraints and obstacles in the flight process, so it is necessary to change the formation shape to avoid these constraints. When the flight path of QUAVs is individually optimized, multiple individual dynamic problems will be faced, making the solution complicated and spending a long time. In this paper, as a whole instead of individuals considering the QUAVs, the formation is regarded as a rigid body using the Voronoi graph theory method in the flight process. The constraints of the followed QUAVs are transformed into the constraints of leader QUAV. Therefore, the formation is transformed for different constraints by changing the virtual rigid body structure or shape. A time-varying model is established to facilitate the use of optimization. The energy consumption of the leader UAV within the specified time is minimized as the trajectory optimization objective. The optimization improvement of the end heading and height constraints is proposed. A trajectory optimization method for the leader QUAV based on Gauss pseudospectral method is proposed, transforming the original optimal control problem into the nonlinear programming one. The simulation results demonstrate and verify the proposed method.
Highlights
The cooperative path planning of multi-UAVs is the crucial technology of UAVs cooperative combat mission planning system [1,2,3,4,5]
The constraints of multi-UAVs collaborative path planning consider the physical performance and the mission requirements of a single UAV, and the cooperative relationship among all UAVs is taken into account, which includes achieving the
Chen et al [17] solved the formation control path planning problem of multiple quadrotor UAVs by introducing virtual rate rigid body and virtual target point and updating the artificial potential field method based on additional control force
Summary
The cooperative path planning of multi-UAVs is the crucial technology of UAVs cooperative combat mission planning system [1,2,3,4,5]. Chen et al [17] solved the formation control path planning problem of multiple quadrotor UAVs by introducing virtual rate rigid body and virtual target point and updating the artificial potential field method based on additional control force. There have been few literatures studied on the path optimization of variable formation of the quadrotor UAVs formation under the constraint of threedimensional space. Research on the information transformation of followed QUAVs in QUAVs formation into the constraints of leader QUAV can make the formation trajectory optimization problem stand-alone, simplify the complex multi-QUAVs formation trajectory optimization problem, and ensure the maintenance of multi-QUAVs formation and the timeliness of cooperation, and can optimize multiple performance indexes at the same time. We propose the path optimization problem of QUAVs formation with obstacles in three-dimensional space through kinematics analysis and numerical simulation.
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