Robust distributed fixed-time cooperative hunting control for multi-quadrotor with obstacles avoidance

This paper addressed the robust distributed fixed-time cooperative hunting problem of multiple quadrotors subject to disturbances in obstacles environment. To handle the underactuated issue inherent in quadrotor dynamics, an inner–outer (attitude-position) loop cascade control configuration is proposed to achieve the cooperative flight control of quadrotors. For position subsystem, as the information of target cannot be accessible to all quadrotors, a distributed fixed-time observer is devised to estimate the target’s information. To improve the system’s robustness, a fixed-time extended state observer is designed to reject disturbances actively. Based on two observers, the sliding mode position encirclement control protocol with repulsive force is presented to avoid obstacles and encircle the target within a fixed time. For attitude subsystem, a sliding mode attitude tracking control protocol is proposed such that tracking errors can converge to zero even under disturbances. The stability analysis is performed to show the stabilization of the whole closed-loop system with fixed-time convergence. Finally, two sets of comparison simulation are provided to show the superiority of the developed control strategy.