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 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.

Autonomous obstacle avoidance for fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles

2015 ◽  
Vol 119 (1221) ◽  
pp. 1415-1436 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. H. J. de Ruiter ◽  
S. Owlia
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Obstacle Avoidance ◽  
Flight Control ◽  
Radius Of Curvature ◽  
Control Laws ◽  
Flow Velocity Field ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Field Geometry ◽  
Time Changes ◽  
Potential Fluid

AbstractThis paper investigates a method for autonomous obstacle avoidance for fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), utilising potential fluid flow theory. The obstacle avoidance algorithm needs only compute the instantaneous local potential velocity vector, which is passed to the flight control laws as a direction command. The approach is reactive, and can readily accommodate real-time changes in obstacle information. UAV manoeuvring constraints on turning or pull-up radii, are accounted for by approximating obstacles by bounding rectangles, with wedges added to their front and back to shape the resulting fluid pathlines. It is shown that the resulting potential flow velocity field is completely determined by the obstacle field geometry, allowing one to determine a non-dimensional relationship between obstacle added wedge-length and the corresponding minimum pathline radius of curvature, which can then be readily scaled in on-board implementation. The efficacy of the proposed approach has been demonstrated numerically with an Aerosonde UAV model.

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.

String Instabilities in Formation Flight: Limitations Due to Integral Constraints

2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (4) ◽  
pp. 873-879 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Seiler ◽  
A. Pant ◽  
J. K. Hedrick
Keyword(s):  
Flight Control ◽  
Formation Control ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Feedback Loops ◽  
Formation Flight ◽  
Control Laws ◽  
Aerodynamic Efficiency ◽  
Preceding Vehicle ◽  
Specific Control ◽  
Theoretical Results

Flying in formation improves aerodynamic efficiency and, consequently, leads to an energy savings. One strategy for formation control is to follow the preceding vehicle. Many researchers have shown through simulation results and analysis of specific control laws that this strategy leads to amplification of disturbances as they propagate through the formation. This effect is known as string instability. In this paper, we show that string instability is due to a fundamental constraint on coupled feedback loops. The tradeoffs imposed by this constraint imply that predecessor following is an inherently poor strategy for formation flight control. Finally, we present two examples that demonstrate the theoretical results.

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