Distributed Finite-Time Prescribed Performance for Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicle With Time-Varying External Disturbance

The cooperative tracking control of multiple unmanned aerial vehicle systems (MUAVSs) is a hotspot with its extensive applications in many areas, and a higher efficiency and more stable system is urgently demanded. To satisfy the needs, this article proposes a distributed-estimator-based (DE-based) finite-time prescribed performance control strategy to improve the convergence time and reduce the overshoot of tracking errors simultaneously. The finite-time prescribed performance function (FTPPF) constrains the convergence boundary and settling time for the cooperative tracking errors of follower UAVs, and the prescribed performance dynamic procedure can be obtained. To further achieve the cooperative operation of the MUAVS, the finite-time prescribed performance controller based on the distributed backstepping law is designed. The disturbance estimator (DE) is designed based on the adaptive prescribed approximation performance function to compensate for the unfavorable effect. Furthermore, considering the input saturation problem, the filter-based saturation compensation is presented to handle this problem. Eventually, the finite-time cooperative tracking performance with the proposed distributed FTPPF control is verified theoretically, and the proposed scheme can make tracking errors converge to an allowable range around zero rapidly under the disturbances and the input saturation. The experimental results and the comparison examples confirm the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.