A control strategy was developed to solve the trajectory tracking and flight formation problem, in the horizontal plane, of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) kind quadrotor, by means of a leader-follower scheme. Time scale separation of the translational and rotational quadrotor dynamics is used to achieve trajectory tracking. A sliding mode controller is proposed for the translational dynamic and provides the desired orientation for the UAV, which is controlled by a linear PD control. Finally, from the formation error dynamics, a sliding mode control is used by the follower to preserve the formation with respect to a leader. An experimental platform was developed for this work consisting of two costume made quadrotors, a ground station running ROS and an Optitrack motion capture system. Experimental results, using a hand-held leader and a follower in formation, are shown to evaluate the proposed control law.
Sliding mode trajectory tracking and formation control laws are proposed for formation flight of multiple UAVs in a leader-follower scheme.
[T2] Diego Alberto Mercado-Ravell. Quad-rotors Formation Control using a Leader-Follower Approach (Control de Formación de quadrirotores en un esquema líder-seguidor). M.Sc. Thesis. CINVESTAV-IPN, Mexico City. 2012.
[C9] D. Mercado, R. Castro and R. Lozano. Quadrotors Flight Formation Control using a Leader-Follower Approach. European Control Conference (ECC), Switzerland, 2013.
[C12] D. Mercado, R. Castro, R. Lozano. Control de Quadri-rotores en un Esquema de Formación Líder-Seguidor. 15th Latin American Control Conference (CLCA), Perú. 2012.