Distributed Formation Control of UAVs for Circumnavigating a Moving Target in Three-Dimensional Space

In this paper, a novel formation control strategy is proposed to address the target tracking and circumnavigating problem of multi-UAV formation. First, two sets of definitions, space angle definition and space vector definition, are presented in order to describe the flight state and construct the desired relative velocity. Then, the relative kinematic model between the UAV and the moving target is established. The distributed control law is constructed by using dynamic feedback linearization so as to realize the tracking and circumnavigating control with the desired velocity, circling radius and relative angular spacing. Next, the exponential stability of the closed-loop system is further guaranteed by properly choosing some corresponding parameters based on the Lyapunov method. Finally, the numerical simulation is carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control method.