Optimized behavioural UAV formation flight controller design

This paper deals with a behavioural decentralized approach for UAV formation flight to carry out a waypoint-passing mission. The objective of the proposed approach is to make each UAV in the formation fly through predefined waypoints while maintaining the distance from other UAVs. To apply the behavioural decentralized controller based on the coupled dynamics, a feedback linearization technique with a diffeomorphic transfer map is derived for a three-dimensional UAV kinematics model. The behavioural approach in which the control input is decided by the relative weight of each UAV's desired behaviour is considered so that each UAV can promptly react on various situations. Optimization techniques of the gain matrices are also performed to improve the performance of the formation flight using eigen-structure analysis and Cholesky decomposition. To verify the performance of the proposed controller, numerical simulation is performed for a waypoint-passing mission of multiple UAVs.