Autonomous Formation Flight of Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles using Decentralized Communication

Abstract

To perform surveillance or reconnaissance of large areas effectively and efficiently, the use of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) flying in formation is recommended. For formation flight, a guidance and control algorithm is required. Recently, many studies have been conducted to develop algorithms for formation flight, but no centralized communication structure that is suitable for multiple UAV formation flight has become widely used. Additionally, the performance of the developed algorithms has mainly been demonstrated using numerical simulations or ground robots, which do not reflect the dynamic characteristics of UAVs. In this dissertation, a formation flight algorithm based on decentralized communication is proposed, and the performance of the proposed algorithm is verified by numerical simulations and a flight test experiment. In this study, a multiple UAV system is constructed, and a formation guidance algorithm is proposed, and its use is demonstrated in an autonomous formation flight. To develop the multiple UAV platform, a UAV hardware system, including the airframe and avionics, is constructed. An on-board decentralized information sharing method is proposed, and the effect of the communication delay is analyzed. Based on sensor information sharing, a law for guiding multiple UAVs as they perform circular and close formations is designed. Numerical simulations are performed to demonstrate the performance of the formation flight guidance and control algorithm for multiple UAVs. Finally, a flight test is performed to verify the proposed algorithm for guiding the formation flight of a multiple-UAV system.