Decentralized UAV formation tracking flight control using gyroscopic force

Abstract

We consider the problem of formation flight for a set of Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV) in a possible obstacle laden environment. A novel decentralized control design procedure is developed which guarantees collision and obstacle avoidance. The control design is based on a modified virtual leader-follower structure and a simple consensus protocol. Vehicle collision and obstacle avoidance is ensured by comprehensively utilizing artificial potential function and the gyroscopic force approach. By introducing gyroscopic force, a smoother formation trajectory is obtained which makes the UAV maneuver behavior more reasonable and it also tackles the local minimal problem caused by artificial potential function method. Numerical simulations are provided to demonstrate the correctness of the algorithm.