Robust Formation Control for Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

This book is based on the authors’ recent research results on formation control problems, including time-varying formation, communication delays, fault-tolerant formation for multiple UAV systems with highly nonlinear and coupled, parameter uncertainties, and external disturbances. Differentiating from existing works, this book presents a robust optimal formation approach to designing distributed cooperative control laws for a group of UAVs, based on the linear quadratic regulator control method and the robust compensation theory. The proposed control method is composed of two parts: the nominal part to achieve desired tracking performance and the robust compensation part to restrain the influence of highly nonlinear and strongly coupled parameter uncertainties, and external disturbances on the global closed-loop control system. Furthermore, this book gives proof of their robust properties. The influence of communication delays and actuator fault tolerance can be restrained by the proposed robust formation control protocol, and the formation tracking errors can converge into a neighborhood of the origin bounded by a given constant in a finite time. Moreover, the book provides details about the practical application of the proposed method to design formation control systems for multiple quadrotors and tail-sitters. Additional features include a robust control method that is proposed to address the formation control problem for UAVs and theoretical and experimental research for the cooperative flight of the quadrotor UAV group and the tail-sitter UAV group. Robust Formation Control for Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles is suitable for graduate students, researchers, and engineers in the system and control community, especially those engaged in the areas of robust control, UAV swarming, and multi-agent systems. This book is based on the authors’ recent research results on formation control problems, including time-varying formation, communication delays, fault tolerant formation, for multiple UAV systems with highly nonlinear and coupled, parameters uncertainties, and external disturbances. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 Preface 10 Authors 12 1. Introduction and Background 16 1.1 Background 16 1.2 Literature Review on Formation Control for UAVs 17 1.2.1 UAV Formation Experiment 17 1.2.2 Research on UAV Formation Control Method 22 1.3 Formation Platform 26 1.3.1 Introduction of Quadrotor Formation Hardware System 26 1.3.2 Airborne Sensors 27 1.3.3 Indoor Positioning System Based on UWB Technology 28 1.3.4 Communication Module 29 1.4 Preview of Chapters 30 2. Robust Formation Control for Multiple Quadrotors with Nonlinearities and Disturbances 32 2.1 Introduction 32 2.2 Preliminaries and Problem Formulation 34 2.2.1 Quadrotor Model 34 2.2.2 Preliminaries on Graph Theory 37 2.2.3 Problem Formulation 37 2.3 Formation Protocol Design and System Analysis 39 2.3.1 Position Controller Design 39 2.3.2 Attitude Controller Design 41 2.3.3 System Analysis 42 2.4 Numerical Simulation Results 46 2.5 Conclusion 51 3. Robust Formation Trajectory Tracking Control for Multiple Quadrotors with Communication Delays 52 3.1 Introduction 52 3.2 Preliminaries and Problem Formulation 54 3.2.1 Quadrotor Model 54 3.2.2 Problem Formulation 56 3.3 Controller Design 57 3.3.1 Position Controller Design 57 3.3.2 Attitude Controller Design 60 3.4 Robustness Property Analysis 61 3.5 Experimental Results 66 3.6 Conclusion 71 4. Robust Formation Tracking Control for Multiple Quadrotors Subject to Switching Topologies 74 4.1 Introduction 74 4.2 Preliminaries and Problem Description 76 4.2.1 Graph Theory 76 4.2.2 System Model 77 4.2.3 Problem Description 79 4.3 Formation Control Protocol Design 79 4.3.1 Position Controller Design 79 4.3.2 Attitude Controller Design 81 4.4 Global System Analysis 82 4.5 Simulation Results 85 4.6 Conclusion 90 5. Robust Time-Varying Formation Control for Tail-Sitters in Flight Mode Transitions 92 5.1 Introduction 92 5.2 Preliminaries and Problem Statement 94 5.2.1 Model of Tail-Sitter Aircraft 94 5.2.2 Control Problem Statement 98 5.3 Robust Formation Controller Design 99 5.3.1 Trajectory Tracking Controller Design 100 5.3.2 Attitude Controller Design 101 5.4 Robust Property Analysis 102 5.5 Simulation Results 107 5.6 Conclusion 110 6. Robust Fault-Tolerant Formation Control for Tail-Sitters in Aggressive Flight Mode Transitions 114 6.1 Introduction 114 6.2 Problem Formulation 116 6.2.1 Aircraft Body 116 6.2.2 Dynamic Motion Equations 117 6.2.3 Actuators 121 6.2.4 Problem Statement 122 6.3 Robust Controller Design 123 6.3.1 Outer Position Controller Design 123 6.3.2 Inner Attitude Controller Design 124 6.4 Robust Property Analysis 125 6.5 Simulation Results 129 6.6 Conclusion 134 Bibliography 136 Index 144 Formation,Control;,UAV,Formation;,Formation,Protocol;,Robust,Formation;,Multiple,Quadrotors;,Tail-Sitters;,Fault-Tolerant,Formation;,Controller,Designs Formation Control,UAV Formation,Formation Protocol,Robust Formation,Multiple Quadrotors,Tail-Sitters,Fault-Tolerant Formation,Controller Designs