Distributed Model Predictive Control for Multi-UAV Formation Systems

This paper proposes a distributed model predictive control algorithm for formation flight of multi unmanned aerial vehicle systems. Each unmanned aerial vehicle is equipped with an upper-level controller capable of solving local optimization problems under ideal conditions. Interaction between subsystems relies on assumed reference trajectories, with communication occurring solely among neighboring unmanned aerial vehicles and being unidirectional, enabling parallel optimization problem-solving with significant scalability. Optimization problems for each subsystem are coupled through cost functions and con-straints, considering both energy minimization and minimization of control input changes. Terminal components are designed for the algorithm, and its stability is proven. Finally, simulation is utilized to verify that this method achieves formation flight of multi unmanned aerial vehicle systems.