Virtual target guidance-based distributed model predictive control for formation control of multiple UAVs

The paper proposes a Virtual Target Guidance (VTG)-based distributed Model Predictive Control (MPC) scheme for formation control of multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). First, a framework of distributed MPC scheme is designed in which each UAV only shares the information with its neighbors, and the obtained local Finite-Horizon Optimal Control Problem (FHOCP) can be solved by swarm intelligent optimization algorithm. Then, a VTG approach is developed and integrated into the distributed MPC scheme to achieve trajectory tracking and obstacle avoidance. Further, an event-triggered mechanism is proposed to reduce the computational burden for UAV formation control, which takes into consideration the predictive state errors as well as the convergence of cost function. Numerical simulations show that the proposed VTG-based distributed MPC scheme is more computationally efficient to achieve formation control of multiple UAVs in comparison with the traditional distributed MPC method.     

无人机-无人车异构时变编队控制与扰动抑制

研究了无人机-无人车异构系统时变输出编队控制与扰动抑制问题，要求多无人机与无人车在受到未知外部扰动的情况下，保持设计的输出时变编队构型。首先，对无人机与无人车进行单体运动学与动力学建模，同时建立扰动模型，并引入代数图论概念，建立异构集群系统的协同控制模型。然后，对各无人机-无人车设计了具有分层架构的分布式时变输出编队控制器，包含基于一致性理论的编队中心估计项和基于内模原理的扰动抑制补偿项。进一步分析异构系统实现输出时变编队的可行性条件，给出了分布式编队控制器的参数选取算法，并证明了时变编队控制器构成的闭环系统的稳定性。最后，通过仿真算例来验证所设计的编队控制器的有效性。     

Formation flight of fixed-wing UAV swarms: A group-based hierarchical approach

This paper investigates a formation control problem of fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) swarms. A group-based hierarchical architecture is established among the UAVs, which decomposes all the UAVs into several distinct and non-overlapping groups. In each group, the UAVs form hierarchies with one UAV selected as the group leader. All group leaders execute coordinated path following to cooperatively handle the mission process among different groups, and the remaining followers track their direct leaders to achieve the inner-group coordination. More specifically, for a group leader, a virtual target moving along its desired path is assigned for the UAV, and an updating law is proposed to coordinate all the group leaders’ virtual targets; for a follower UAV, the distributed leader-following formation control law is proposed to make the follower’s heading angle coincide with its direct leader, while keeping the desired relative position with respect to its direct leader. The proposed control law guarantees the globally asymptotic stability of the whole closed-loop swarm system under the control input constraints of fixed-wing UAVs. Theoretical proofs and numerical simulations are provided, which corroborate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Distributed bearing-based formation control of unmanned aerial vehicle swarm via global orientation estimation

Most existing formation control approaches for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV)swarm assume that global position and global coordinate frame are directly available for each agent. To extend the application domain, this paper proposes a distributed bearing-based formation control scheme, without any reliance on global position or global coordinate frame. The interactions among UAVs are described by a directed topology with two-leader structure. To address the issue of unavailable global coordinate fr...     

Robust leaderless time-varying formation control for unmanned aerial vehicle swarm system with Lipschitz nonlinear dynamics and directed switching topologies

This paper tackles the robust leaderless Time-Varying Formation(TVF) control problem for the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV) swarm system with Lipschitz nonlinear dynamics, external disturbances and directed switching topologies. In comparison with the previous achievements on formation control problems, the UAV swarm system with Lipschitz nonlinear dynamics can accomplish the pre-designed TVF while tracking a pre-given trajectory which is produced by a virtual leader UAV in the presence of externa...     

基于信息一致性的无人机紧密编队集结控制

提出了基于信息一致性的分段式无人机紧密编队集结控制策略,将集结过程分为3步:参考集结点选取和目标集结点分配、形成松散编队以及形成紧密编队。首先,以线切入预定航线的方式计算参考集结点,按照松散编队队形展开生成目标集结点,并利用基于三维距离空间的优化选择算法,将目标集结点快速、准确地分配给每架无人机。然后,使用速度一致性实现向目标集结点定点集结和向松散编队伴航集结,通过非精确的航迹控制快速形成松散编队,提高编队集结的效率。接下来,启动速度、姿态一致性来实现编队最终的精确航迹控制,并逐步压缩编队队形进入紧密编队,避免发生碰撞,完成从松散编队到紧密编队的平稳过渡,同时准确地跟踪预定航线。使用协同修正方法抑制了测量误差、协同误差和通信延迟,提高了紧密编队的稳定性和控制精度。最后,基于MATLAB平台环境对所提三维集结控制策略进行了仿真,验证了其合理性与有效性。     

小型固定翼无人机集群综述和未来发展综述

围绕小型固定翼无人机集群这一难度高、发展快、应用前景广阔、多学科交叉的新方向,从集群系统内涵、现有典型项目、关键技术3个角度综述了国内外小型固定翼无人机集群的研究现状。在系统梳理集群系统内涵和应用优势的基础上,从集群协同模式探索、分布指挥体系构建、核心关键技术突破和集群验证等4个视角总结现有典型项目,从体系架构、通信组网、决策与规划、飞机平台、集群飞行、集群安全与集群指控等7个核心点综述了技术研究现状。最后,综合小型固定翼无人机集群中亟需解决的关键技术,展望了这一领域未来的发展趋势。     

无人机参数优化自抗扰编队保持控制器设计

针对无人机编队飞行中的队形保持问题,采用结合粒子群算法的自抗扰控制技术对控制器进行设计,使响应过程具有良好的动态品质和较小的稳态误差。建立三维空间内基于相对误差的无人机编队飞行模型,并在此基础上设计了跟踪微分器、扩展状态观测器和非线性状态反馈自抗扰控制器,采用粒子群算法对控制器中部分参数进行优化整定。仿真结果表明,设计的结合粒子群算法的改进自抗扰控制器具有良好的控制性能,能以较高的精度实现无人机编队保持任务。     

切换拓扑下无人机集群系统时变编队控制

针对多无人机(UAV)间通信拓扑可能发生变化的情况,研究了具有二阶积分特性的无人机集群系统的轨迹跟踪与时变编队控制问题。基于一致性方法设计了编队控制器,将编队控制问题转换成闭环系统的稳定性问题,引入了切换拓扑平均驻留时间的概念,并在此基础上利用线性矩阵不等式(LMI)方法,给出了控制器设计步骤。通过构造分段连续Lyapunov函数,证明了切换拓扑下无人机集群系统能够实现对指定轨迹的跟踪并且实现时变编队飞行。以三维空间运动的无人机集群系统为例进行了仿真验证,结果表明本文所提方法能够解决切换拓扑下无人机集群系统的轨迹跟踪与时变编队问题。     

基于群智机理的集群防碰撞控制

在执行作战任务以及民用中,无人机集群由于具备高可靠性和高效费比的特点而受到广泛关注;随着城市低空空域的开放,作战环境的动态复杂性剧增,对无人机集群防碰撞提出了严峻的挑战。针对无人机集群执行任务时的编队个体之间防碰撞以及遭遇突发障碍时的集群防碰撞问题,提出了基于群智机理的集群防碰撞控制方法。通过引入力学概念,设计了集群内部吸引力、排斥力以及编队构型力的模型;通过集群个体间的信息共享以及类脑知识发育,构建了基于群信息共享和类脑反射的无人机防碰撞模型。仿真结果表明：所提集群控制方法提高了集群的集结效率,而且在遭遇突发障碍时能够规避动态障碍,再次完成编队重构;群智机理的引入缩短了无人机集群面临突发障碍时的反应时间。     

面向林火持续侦察的多无人机分布式控制方法

为解决目前面向林火持续侦察多无人机（UAV）协同控制实用性与自主性不足的问题，基于蔓延速度诱导元胞自动机（SVICA）林火蔓延算法、无人机与传感器建模，构建了较为真实的三维多无人机火场侦察仿真环境与侦察效能指标，提出了一种面向林火持续侦察的多无人机双层分布式控制架构，在行动层基于强化学习训练的人工神经网络（ANN），实现了有风条件下无人机自主火场环绕与地形跟随功能，在策略层设计通过时域均匀分布算法进行各无人机空速的离散自主调节，最终达到多无人机林火持续侦察时域分布的均匀性与即时性目的。通过一系列数值仿真实验，验证了所提出的无人机分布控制策略在无人机损失和补充突发情况下的自适应性。基于无人机数量与侦察效能指标关系的实验与研究，定义了无人机出动阈值并验证了无人机长时间出动回收策略。最终实验结果表明，针对林火持续侦察任务，所提出的多无人机分布式控制方法具备一定的有效性与实用性。     

基于分布式模型预测控制的多UAV协同区域搜索

针对多无人机(UAV)协同区域搜索问题展开研究。提出了一种基于分布式模型预测控制(DMPC)的多UAV分布式优化搜索方法。首先基于传统的搜索图模型,建立了多UAV协同搜索的问题描述和状态空间模型,然后在DMPC框架下,将集中式多UAV在线优化决策问题转化为各架UAV的小规模分布式优化问题,采用基于纳什最优和粒子群优化(PSO)相结合的算法实现对每个子系统优化问题的迭代求解。仿真结果表明:DMPC方法能够有效地降低多UAV协同搜索决策问题的求解规模,是一种可行的方法。     

毫米波波束编码技术在无人机智能集群中的应用

毫米波波束编码技术由于其速率高、抗干扰能力强的优点被认为是无人机智能集群通信网络的重要解决方案。但在无人机智能集群的通信场景中,多种原因造成的机体不稳定抖动会使通信波束产生小角度偏转,引起通信质量的下降,从而影响无人机集群的控制与决策。针对这一问题,提出一种面向无人机集群通信的自适应波束设计方法。首先,根据传感器回传的机体波束抖动情况建立等效信道模型,随后利用量化的信道模型参数建立目标函数并获得理想的波束编码向量,在此基础上利用几何贪婪算法对其进行分解。仿真结果表明,提出的集群波束编码方法能够有效提高均值通信速率,同时相较于其他的系数分解算法,有效降低了计算复杂度。     

Mission-driven autonomous perception and fusion based on UAV swarm

Distributed autonomous situational awareness is one of the most important foundation for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) swarm to implement various missions. Considering the application environment being usually characterized by strong confrontation, high dynamics, and deep uncertainty, the distributed situational awareness system based on UAV swarm needs to be driven by the mission requirements, while each node in the network can autonomously avoid collisions and perform detection mission through limited resource sharing as well as complementarity of respective advantages. By efficiently solving the problems of self-avoidance, autonomous flocking and splitting, joint estimation and control, etc., perception data from multi-platform multi-source should be extracted and fused reasonably, to generate refined, tailored target information and provide reliable support for decision-making.     

基于自组网策略的多机编队与防撞任务研究

近年来多旋翼无人机编队飞行技术取得了巨大的突破,将无人机技术与自组网技术相结合将会促进无人机集群技术的发展。为了促进无人机编队飞行技术的发展,以5架六旋翼无人机为研究对象,重点研究了基于自组网策略的多旋翼无人机队形组成、队形保持、队形重构以及飞行过程中的避碰策略,设计了数据闭环的地面编队控制软件并进行试飞验证。测试结果表明,该数据闭环地面编队控制软件稳定可靠,实现了编队队形组成、保持、重构以及在队形变换过程中的机间避碰等功能,对多旋翼无人机编队飞行工程化实现具有一定的参考价值。     

Multi-UAV coordination control by chaotic grey wolf optimization based distributed MPC with event-triggered strategy

The paper proposes a new swarm intelligence-based distributed Model Predictive Control (MPC) approach for coordination control of multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). First, a distributed MPC framework is designed and each member only shares the information with neighbors. The Chaotic Grey Wolf Optimization (CGWO) method is developed on the basis of chaotic initialization and chaotic search to solve the local Finite Horizon Optimal Control Problem (FHOCP). Then, the distributed cost function is designed and integrated into each FHOCP to achieve multi-UAV formation control and trajectory tracking with no-fly zone constraint. Further, an event-triggered strategy is proposed to reduce the computational burden for the distributed MPC approach, which considers the predicted state errors and the convergence of cost function. Simulation results show that the CGWO-based distributed MPC approach is more computationally efficient to achieve multi-UAV coordination control than traditional method.     

多无人机协同打击制导控制技术研究进展

自杀式无人机具备长时巡航侦察和高速突防打击的特点,为充分发挥其集群进攻优势,突破复杂环境下的协同打击制导控制技术具有重要意义。由单机控制到集群动态协同、由单一约束到时空综合控制是探索时空约束下多机协同控制的基本思路。本文介绍了无人机集群进攻的应用背景,分析了多机协同打击系统发展现状;探究了攻击时间可控制导律、攻击角度可控制导律、时空约束下集群协同制导控制等关键技术;总结了当前无人机协同运用中的不足之处,并对下一步的研究方向进行了展望。本文研究的内容对于集群攻击作战运用及多机协同控制器的设计具有一定的参考意义。     

基于滑模的多无人机系统协同编队控制

针对具有非完整约束的多无人机系统编队控制问题，提出了一种基于滑模的协同编队控制算法。控制目标是使多无人机系统能够收敛到期望编队，并且能够跟踪上期望的运动轨迹。在领导-跟随结构中，编队的期望运动轨迹由一个动态的虚拟领导者来表示，仅部分跟随者先验已知虚拟领导者信息，并且所有跟随者之间只能局部交互信息。首先，采用分布式状态观测器，使所有跟随者能够在有限时间内估计出虚拟领导者的状态。然后，利用该观测器的估计状态，提出了基于滑模的协同编队控制算法。最后，基于李雅普诺夫稳定性理论证明了多无人机系统的稳定性,并且通过5架无人机的仿真验证了所提算法的有效性。     

Unmanned aerial vehicle swarm mission reliability modeling and evaluation method oriented to systematic and networked mission

With the development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) system autonomy, network communication technology and group intelligence theory, mission execution in the form of a UAV swarm will be an important realization of future applications. Traditional single-UAV mission reliability modeling methods have been unable to meet the requirements of UAV swarm mission reliability modeling. Therefore, the UAV swarm mission reliability modeling and evaluation method is proposed. First, aimed at the interdependence among the multiple layers, a multi-layer network model of a UAV swarm is established. At the same time, based on the system having the following characteristics—using a mission chain to complete the mission and applying the connectivity of the mission network—the mission network model of a UAV swarm is established. Second, vulnerability and connectivity are selected as two indicators to reflect the reliability of the mission, and aimed at random attack and deliberate attack, vulnerability and connectivity evaluation methods are proposed. Finally, the validity and accuracy of the constructed model are verified through simulations, and the model and selected indicators can meet the reliability requirements of the UAV swarm mission. In this way, this study provides quantitative reference for UAV-swarm-related decision-making work and supports the development of UAV-swarm-related work.     

蜂群对抗决策故障下的容错博弈控制

针对大规模分簇蜂群无人机的任务分配问题,考虑对抗场景下某些无人机由于受到敌方攻击或操控,决策规则遭到篡改,进而导致群决策行为与期望的均衡点产生偏差的决策故障。在演化矩阵博弈的框架下,运用多群体复制子动态方程对蜂群无人机和故障建模,基于李雅普诺夫函数对故障发生前后均衡点的局部渐近稳定性及其吸引域进行了分析,从而建立了自容错条件,并设计了基于激励的簇间协同容错博弈控制方法,对群决策行为偏差进行补偿,使得蜂群任务分配状态在故障下仍能达到期望的均衡点,获得理想的分工收益。