Interactive leader-follower consensus of multiple quadrotors based on composite nonlinear feedback control

International audienceIn this paper, an interactive L-F configuration of multiple quadrotors is considered, which means that the leaders can react with respect to the followers. In order to analyze the consensus of such a multi-quadrotor system, an interaction matrix is proposed. The convergence condition of the trajectory tracking error is then proven to be related to the smallest eigenvalue of the interaction matrix. In order to achieve an aggressive formation, we develop a bounded composite nonlinear feedback based formation controller with hyperbolic functions as a main contribution. Simulation and real-time experimental results show that the formation task is achieved with small overshoot and rapid response speed. Real-time experiments show four quadrotors following a circular reference trajectory with high linear velocity up to 2.7m/s