Fault Detection and Formation Flying Reconfiguration of UAVs

This paper describes the method for reconfiguring formations when some UAVs fail in a formation flight. We proposed fault detection using correlation coefficient and formation reconfiguration by applying the optimal allocation problem in this method. The correlation coefficient can detect faults by examining the similarity between the commanded value of the control input and the actual input. The optimal assignment problem can ensure a one-to-one assignment of UAVs to new target positions and minimize the total distance moved during the reconfiguration. Numerical simulation is performed to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method for the formation flight of fixed-wing UAVs.