Distributed leader-follower formation control for multiple quadrotors with weighted topology

Abstract

This paper addresses the problem of controlling a leader-follower formation of quadrotors (UAVs), which can be considered as a System of Systems. A distributed control scheme for the motion of the formation is proposed, ensuring consensus of the UAVs and collision avoidance. Each UAV has local and limited neighbors and uses weighted relative positions and velocities of its neighbors. In the simulation section, a comparison of using the formation controllers with weighted and unweighted topology is given. The results show that the proposed control strategy can keep the formation with some initial conditions, unlike the strategy with unweighted topology. The simulations also show that our proposed control strategy can be applied for both one leader and multiple leaders formation.