Formation Flight Control Scheme for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

2012 ◽  
pp. 331-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zdzisław Gosiewski ◽  
Leszek Ambroziak
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Flight Control ◽  
Formation Flight ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Control Scheme

scholarly journals Virtual Electric Dipole Field Applied to Autonomous Formation Flight Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (13) ◽  
pp. 4540
Author(s):  
Leszek Ambroziak ◽  
Maciej Ciężkowski
Keyword(s):  
Control System ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Flight Control ◽  
Electric Dipole ◽  
Potential Field ◽  
Control Algorithm ◽  
Formation Flight ◽  
Potential Fields ◽  
Dipole Potential ◽  
Aerial Vehicles

The following paper presents a method for the use of a virtual electric dipole potential field to control a leader-follower formation of autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The proposed control algorithm uses a virtual electric dipole potential field to determine the desired heading for a UAV follower. This method’s greatest advantage is the ability to rapidly change the potential field function depending on the position of the independent leader. Another advantage is that it ensures formation flight safety regardless of the positions of the initial leader or follower. Moreover, it is also possible to generate additional potential fields which guarantee obstacle and vehicle collision avoidance. The considered control system can easily be adapted to vehicles with different dynamics without the need to retune heading control channel gains and parameters. The paper closely describes and presents in detail the synthesis of the control algorithm based on vector fields obtained using scalar virtual electric dipole potential fields. The proposed control system was tested and its operation was verified through simulations. Generated potential fields as well as leader-follower flight parameters have been presented and thoroughly discussed within the paper. The obtained research results validate the effectiveness of this formation flight control method as well as prove that the described algorithm improves flight formation organization and helps ensure collision-free conditions.

Practical control implementation of tri-tiltRotor flying wing unmanned aerial vehicles based upon active disturbance rejection control

2020 ◽  
Vol 234 (4) ◽  
pp. 943-960
Author(s):  
Zian Wang ◽  
Zheng Gong ◽  
Yongliang Chen ◽  
Mingwei Sun ◽  
Jinfa Xu
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Flight Control ◽  
Disturbance Rejection ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
Control Input ◽  
Active Disturbance Rejection Control ◽  
Active Disturbance Rejection ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Disturbance Rejection Control ◽  
Control Scheme

Tilt rotor unmanned aerial vehicles exhibit their effectiveness via a novel and convenient structure. However, the flight control system is a critical problem in need of a robust solution. Focusing on its flight features, which display strong nonlinear and varying dynamics, caused by complexity in the aerodynamic layout and tilting structure, a practical control scheme is proposed to meet such technical issues. This paper first develops the nonlinear model, consisting of the interference between rotors and the wing body, relying on wind tunnel technology. A simplified linear model that decomposes the longitudinal and lateral components is used in order to facilitate controller design. Then, a time-scale separation decoupling control scheme based upon active disturbance rejection control is proposed to cope with control challenges. Introducing the concept of virtual control input, an effective control allocation is obtained by choosing the appropriate bandwidth in the frequency domain. The extended state observer is applied to estimate and compensate for unknown total disturbances and model uncertainties. Finally, robustness verification, successful test-bench experiments, and practical flight tests that show the fast tracking and disturbance rejection of the active disturbance rejection control controller are discussed. The proposed practical coupling rejection control design demonstrates its capability to employ a single input single output method to control a tri-tiltRotor flying wing unmanned aerial vehicle relying on active disturbance rejection control.

A Virtual Environment for Simulation of Formation Flight

2015 ◽  
Vol 713-715 ◽  
pp. 263-266
Author(s):  
Zhen Dong Xu ◽  
Tao Shang ◽  
Rong Min Sun ◽  
De Ming Wang
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Flight Control ◽  
Video Camera ◽  
Formation Flight ◽  
Nonlinear Characteristics ◽  
Control Laws ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Highly Nonlinear ◽  
Formation Keeping

This paper presents the design of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) formation flight control laws and then the virtual Environment setup of a nice structure for close formation flight. The images of the target airplane projected on the video-camera plane of the follower airplane are captured and processed into vision information The simulation setup includes airplane dynamics, autopilots and formation keeping controller and module that creates virtual environment for the simulation of the vision software called Unity3D. The UKF is applied to the relative motion estimator due to the highly nonlinear characteristics of the problem.

scholarly journals Autonomous Close Formation Flight Control with Fixed Wing and Quadrotor Test Beds

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caleb Rice ◽  
Yu Gu ◽  
Haiyang Chao ◽  
Trenton Larrabee ◽  
Srikanth Gururajan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Flight Control ◽  
Energy Cost ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Formation Flight ◽  
Dynamic Inversion ◽  
Flight Testing ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Research Aircraft ◽  
Reducing Energy

Autonomous formation flight is a key approach for reducing energy cost and managing traffic in future high density airspace. The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has allowed low-budget and low-risk validation of autonomous formation flight concepts. This paper discusses the implementation and flight testing of nonlinear dynamic inversion (NLDI) controllers for close formation flight (CFF) using two distinct UAV platforms: a set of fixed wing aircraft named “Phastball” and a set of quadrotors named “NEO.” Experimental results show that autonomous CFF with approximately 5-wingspan separation is achievable with a pair of low-cost unmanned Phastball research aircraft. Simulations of the quadrotor flight also validate the design of the NLDI controller for the NEO quadrotors.

scholarly journals Computer Vision in Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles—A Systematic Mapping Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (15) ◽  
pp. 3196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lidia María Belmonte ◽  
Rafael Morales ◽  
Antonio Fernández-Caballero
Keyword(s):  
Computer Vision ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Flight Control ◽  
Systematic Mapping Study ◽  
General View ◽  
Mapping Study ◽  
Vision Systems ◽  
Systematic Mapping ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Assistant Robots

Personal assistant robots provide novel technological solutions in order to monitor people’s activities, helping them in their daily lives. In this sense, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can also bring forward a present and future model of assistant robots. To develop aerial assistants, it is necessary to address the issue of autonomous navigation based on visual cues. Indeed, navigating autonomously is still a challenge in which computer vision technologies tend to play an outstanding role. Thus, the design of vision systems and algorithms for autonomous UAV navigation and flight control has become a prominent research field in the last few years. In this paper, a systematic mapping study is carried out in order to obtain a general view of this subject. The study provides an extensive analysis of papers that address computer vision as regards the following autonomous UAV vision-based tasks: (1) navigation, (2) control, (3) tracking or guidance, and (4) sense-and-avoid. The works considered in the mapping study—a total of 144 papers from an initial set of 2081—have been classified under the four categories above. Moreover, type of UAV, features of the vision systems employed and validation procedures are also analyzed. The results obtained make it possible to draw conclusions about the research focuses, which UAV platforms are mostly used in each category, which vision systems are most frequently employed, and which types of tests are usually performed to validate the proposed solutions. The results of this systematic mapping study demonstrate the scientific community’s growing interest in the development of vision-based solutions for autonomous UAVs. Moreover, they will make it possible to study the feasibility and characteristics of future UAVs taking the role of personal assistants.

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