考虑输入饱和的固定翼无人机自适应增益滑模控制

针对复杂环境下的固定翼无人机飞行控制问题，考虑输入饱和以及复杂外界干扰的影响，提出一种基于自适应滑模控制方法的固定翼无人机飞行控制策略。首先，对固定翼无人机模型进行介绍，将模型分为姿态子系统和速度子系统；其次，针对姿态子系统和速度子系统的特点以及控制需求，分别采用自适应多变量螺旋滑模和自适应快速超螺旋滑模设计姿态控制器和速度控制器，该策略无需设计干扰观测器对外界干扰进行估计，仍然可以实现固定翼无人机对姿态参考指令和速度参考指令的有限时间精确跟踪，并基于Lyapunov的稳定性分析方法证明了闭环系统的稳定性。最后，对本文所提出的控制策略进行了仿真验证，结果表明该控制策略具有良好的控制性能。     

Fractional order adaptive robust formation control of multiple quad-rotor UAVs with parametric uncertainties and wind disturbances

In recent times, multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are being widely utilized in several areas of applications such as agriculture, surveillance, disaster management, search and rescue operations. Degree of robustness of applied control schemes determines how accurate a swarm of UAVs accomplish group tasks. Formation and trajectory tracking controllers are required for the swarm of multiple UAVs. Factors like external environmental effects, parametric uncertainties and wind gusts make the controller design process as a challenging task. This article proposes fractional order formation and trajectory tacking controllers for multiple quad-rotors using Super Twisting Sliding Mode Control (STSMC) technique. To compensate the effects of the disturbances due to parametric uncertainties and wind gusts, Lyapunov function based adaptive controllers are formulated. Moreover, Lyapunov theorem is used to guarantee the stability of the proposed controllers. Three types of controllers, namely fixed gain STSMC and fractional order Adaptive Super Twisting Sliding Mode Control (ASTSMC) methods are tested for the swarm of UAVs by performing the numerical simulations in MATLAB/Simulink environment. From the presented results, it is verified that in presence of wind disturbances and parametric uncertainties, the proposed fractional order ASTSMC technique showed improved robustness as compared to the fixed gain STSMC and integer order ASTSMC.     

基于预设性能的四旋翼无人机编队安全控制

针对四旋翼无人机编队系统存在模型不确定性、未知外部干扰与内部碰撞等问题,提出一种基于预设性能的安全控制方法。首先使用预设性能函数结合误差转换方法,将防止内部碰撞的不等式约束问题转换为无约束问题。同时针对模型中的不确定项,使用神经网络进行逼近;针对神经网络逼近误差与未知外部干扰组成的复合干扰,使用非线性干扰观测器进行估计,并分别设计位置与姿态子系统控制器,避免了编队内四旋翼无人机的碰撞。然后借助Lyapunov方法证明了闭环系统所有信号的收敛性。最后通过数值仿真验证了所提控制方法的有效性。     

Fully distributed time-varying formation tracking control for multiple quadrotor vehicles via finite-time convergent extended state observer

This paper investigates a time-varying anti-disturbance formation problem for a group of quadrotor aircrafts with time-varying uncertainties and a directed interaction topology. A novel Finite-Time Convergent Extended State Observer (FTCESO) based fully-distributed formation control scheme is proposed to enhance the disturbance rejection and the formation tracking performances for networked quadrotors. By adopting the hierarchical control strategy, the multi-quadrotor system is separated into two subsystems: the outer-loop cooperative subsystem and the inner-loop attitude subsystem. In the outer-loop subsystem, with the estimation of disturbing forces and uncertain dynamics from FTCESOs, an adaptive consensus theory based cooperative controller is exploited to ensure the multiple quadrotors form and maintain a time-varying pattern relying only on the positions of the neighboring aircrafts. In the inner-loop subsystem, the desired attitude generated by the cooperative control law is stably tracked under a FTCESO-based attitude controller in a finite time. Based on a detailed algorithm to specify the cooperative control protocol, the feasibility condition to achieve the time-varying anti-disturbance formation tracking is derived and the rigorous analysis of the whole closed-loop multi-quadrotor system is given. Some numerical examples are conducted to intuitively demonstrate the effectiveness and the improvements of the proposed control framework.     

基于Leader-Follower的多无人机编队轨迹跟踪设计

针对四旋翼无人机（UAV）群在轨迹跟踪过程中易受外界干扰而引起跟踪误差的问题，设计了基于Leader-Follower的多无人机协同编队轨迹跟踪控制方法。在该系统中，首先通过积分反步法（IBS）对所建四旋翼飞行器模型设计Leader无人机的轨迹跟踪控制器。其次设计了滑模控制（SMC）器，以控制Leader与Follower无人机实现期望的编队队形并同时跟踪参考轨迹。然后通过数值仿真验证了算法的有效性，仿真结果表明，系统具有良好的控制精度。最后通过视觉定位系统进行实验，结果表明所设计的控制器能够实现多个无人机轨迹跟踪和编队控制，所设计的算法具有可行性。     

基于零空间方法的四旋翼无人机避障与协同编队控制

针对四旋翼无人机在编队飞行执行任务时可能遭遇障碍物问题,考虑多无人机避障及机间避撞的需求,提出 1种基于零空间方法的四旋翼无人机避障与协同编队控制算法。首先,建立四旋翼无人机动力学模型,并建立虚拟控制量简化控制模型;其次,基于零空间方法进行避障与协同编队控制算法研究,将无人机任务执行分解为目标趋向任务、避障避撞任务和协同编队任务,并根据优先级进行任务融合得到期望速度;再次,基于 PID方法设计控制律;最后,通过仿真验证所提控制算法的有效性。所提方法可保证四旋翼无人机在编队飞行中遭遇障碍物时的飞行安全。     

Autonomous attitude coordinated control for spacecraft formation with input constraint,model uncertainties,and external disturbances

To synchronize the attitude of a spacecraft formation flying system, three novel autonomous control schemes are proposed to deal with the issue in this paper. The first one is an ideal autonomous attitude coordinated controller, which is applied to address the case with certain models and no disturbance. The second one is a robust adaptive attitude coordinated controller, which aims to tackle the case with external disturbances and model uncertainties. The last one is a filtered robust adaptive attitude coordinated controller, which is used to overcome the case with input con- straint, model uncertainties, and external disturbances. The above three controllers do not need any external tracking signal and only require angular velocity and relative orientation between a spacecraft and its neighbors. Besides, the relative information is represented in the body frame of each spacecraft. The controllers are proved to be able to result in asymptotical stability almost everywhere. Numerical simulation results show that the proposed three approaches are effective for attitude coordination in a spacecraft formation flying system.     

Trajectory tracking control of a VTOL unmanned aerial vehicle using offset-free tracking MPC

Designing a stable and robust flight control system for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is an arduous task. This paper addresses the trajectory tracking control problem of a Ducted Fan UAV (DFUAV) using offset-free Model Predictive Control (MPC) technique in the presence of various uncertainties and external disturbances. The designed strategy aims to ensure adequate flight robustness and stability while overcoming the effects of time delays, parametric uncertainties, and disturbances. The six degrees of freedom DFUAV model is divided into three flight modes based on its airspeed, namely the hover, transition, and cruise mode. The Dryden wind turbulence is applied to the DFUAV in the linear and angular velocity component. Moreover, different uncertainties such as parametric, time delays in state and input, are introduced in translational and rotational components. From the previous work, the Linear Quadratic Tracker with Integrator (LQTI) is used for comparison to corroborate the performance of the designed controller. Simulations are computed to investigate the control performance for the aforementioned modes and different flight phases including the autonomous flight to validate the performance of the designed strategy. Finally, discussions are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the given methodology.     

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.     

Spacecraft formation-containment flying control with time-varying translational velocity

This paper investigates the problem of Spacecraft Formation-Containment Flying Control (SFCFC) when the desired translational velocity is time-varying. In SFCFC problem, there are multiple leader spacecraft and multiple follower spacecraft and SFCFC can be divided into leader spacecraft’s formation control and follower spacecraft’s containment control. First, under the condition that only a part of leader spacecraft can have access to the desired time-varying translational velocity, a velocity estimator is designed for each leader spacecraft. Secondly, based on the estimated translational velocity, a distributed formation control algorithm is designed for leader spacecraft to achieve the desired formation and move with the desired translational velocity simultaneously. Then, to ensure all follower spacecraft converge to the convex hull formed by the leader spacecraft, a distributed containment control algorithm is designed for follower spacecraft. Moreover, to reduce the dependence of the designed control algorithms on the graph information and increase system robustness, the control gains are changing adaptively and the parametric uncertainties are handled, respectively. Finally, simulation results are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.