204 research outputs found
Circular formation control of fixed-wing UAVs with constant speeds
In this paper we propose an algorithm for stabilizing circular formations of
fixed-wing UAVs with constant speeds. The algorithm is based on the idea of
tracking circles with different radii in order to control the inter-vehicle
phases with respect to a target circumference. We prove that the desired
equilibrium is exponentially stable and thanks to the guidance vector field
that guides the vehicles, the algorithm can be extended to other closed
trajectories. One of the main advantages of this approach is that the algorithm
guarantees the confinement of the team in a specific area, even when
communications or sensing among vehicles are lost. We show the effectiveness of
the algorithm with an actual formation flight of three aircraft. The algorithm
is ready to use for the general public in the open-source Paparazzi autopilot.Comment: 6 pages, submitted to IROS 201
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