Jieun Lee · Hyeong Seok Kim · Youdan Kim · Kihoon Han
International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sicences, vol. 9, no. 2, pp.71-78, 2008

Abstract : New formation flight controller for unmanned aerial vehicles is proposed. A behavioral decentralized control approach called formation geometry center control is adopted. Trajectory tracking as well as formation geometry keeping are the purpose of the formation flight, and therefore two controllers are designed: a trajectory tracking controller for reference trajectory tracking, and a position controller for formation geometry keeping. Each controller is designed using Lyapunov stability theorem to guarantee the asymptotic stability. Formation flight controller is finally obtained by combining the trajectory tracking controller and the formation geometry keeping controller using a weighting parameter that depends on the relative distance error between unmanned aerial vehicles. Numerical simulations are performed to validate the performance of the proposed controller.

Keyword : formation flight, behavioral approach, formation geometry center, Lyapunov stability theorem