Prescribed Performance Constrained Nonlinear Robust Control for Close Formation Flight

This paper presents a novel robust nonlinear control algorithm for close formation flight with guaranteed prescribed transient performance. The proposed control algorithm is composed of a constrained baseline controller and an uncertainty and disturbance estimator. Some performance specifications will be ensured by the baseline controller, such as the maximum overshoots, the least convergence rates, and the maximum steady tracking errors. Based on the baseline controller, an uncertainty and disturbance estimator is established to compensate for any model uncertainties and formation aerodynamic disturbances within the nonlinear aircraft model in close formation. The feasibility and efficiency of the proposed control algorithm are finally validated by numerical simulation.