A Fixed-Wing UAV Formation Algorithm Based on Vector Field Guidance

Ximan Wang; Simone Baldi; Xuewei Feng; Changwei Wu; Hongwei Xie; Bart De Schutter

doi:10.1109/TASE.2022.3144672

A Fixed-Wing UAV Formation Algorithm Based on Vector Field Guidance

Ximan Wang, Simone Baldi, Xuewei Feng, Changwei Wu, Hongwei Xie, Bart De Schutter

Team DeSchutter

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

Abstract

The vector field method was originally proposed to guide a single fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) towards a desired path. In this work, a non-uniform vector field method is proposed that changes in both magnitude and direction, for the purpose of achieving formations of UAVs. As compared to related work in the literature, the proposed formation control law does not need to assume absence of wind. That is, due to the effect of the wind on the UAV, one can handle the UAV air speed being different from its ground speed, and the UAV heading angle being different from its course angle. Stability of the proposed formation method is analyzed via Lyapunov stability theory, and validations are carried out in software-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop comparative experiments.

Original language	English
Journal	IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/TASE.2022.3144672
Publication status	Accepted/In press - 8 Feb 2022

Keywords

Autonomous aerial vehicles
Autopilot
Computer architecture
Formation control
hardware-in-the-loop
Orbits
PX4 autopilot.
Standards
Task analysis
unmanned aerial vehicles
vector field
Wind speed

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10.1109/TASE.2022.3144672

Cite this

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title = "A Fixed-Wing UAV Formation Algorithm Based on Vector Field Guidance",

abstract = "The vector field method was originally proposed to guide a single fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) towards a desired path. In this work, a non-uniform vector field method is proposed that changes in both magnitude and direction, for the purpose of achieving formations of UAVs. As compared to related work in the literature, the proposed formation control law does not need to assume absence of wind. That is, due to the effect of the wind on the UAV, one can handle the UAV air speed being different from its ground speed, and the UAV heading angle being different from its course angle. Stability of the proposed formation method is analyzed via Lyapunov stability theory, and validations are carried out in software-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop comparative experiments.",

keywords = "Autonomous aerial vehicles, Autopilot, Computer architecture, Formation control, hardware-in-the-loop, Orbits, PX4 autopilot., Standards, Task analysis, unmanned aerial vehicles, vector field, Wind speed",

author = "Ximan Wang and Simone Baldi and Xuewei Feng and Changwei Wu and Hongwei Xie and {De Schutter}, Bart",

year = "2022",

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day = "8",

doi = "10.1109/TASE.2022.3144672",

language = "English",

journal = "IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering",

issn = "1545-5955",

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AU - Wang, Ximan

AU - Baldi, Simone

AU - Feng, Xuewei

AU - Wu, Changwei

AU - Xie, Hongwei

AU - De Schutter, Bart

PY - 2022/2/8

Y1 - 2022/2/8

N2 - The vector field method was originally proposed to guide a single fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) towards a desired path. In this work, a non-uniform vector field method is proposed that changes in both magnitude and direction, for the purpose of achieving formations of UAVs. As compared to related work in the literature, the proposed formation control law does not need to assume absence of wind. That is, due to the effect of the wind on the UAV, one can handle the UAV air speed being different from its ground speed, and the UAV heading angle being different from its course angle. Stability of the proposed formation method is analyzed via Lyapunov stability theory, and validations are carried out in software-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop comparative experiments.

AB - The vector field method was originally proposed to guide a single fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) towards a desired path. In this work, a non-uniform vector field method is proposed that changes in both magnitude and direction, for the purpose of achieving formations of UAVs. As compared to related work in the literature, the proposed formation control law does not need to assume absence of wind. That is, due to the effect of the wind on the UAV, one can handle the UAV air speed being different from its ground speed, and the UAV heading angle being different from its course angle. Stability of the proposed formation method is analyzed via Lyapunov stability theory, and validations are carried out in software-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop comparative experiments.

KW - Autonomous aerial vehicles

KW - Autopilot

KW - Computer architecture

KW - Formation control

KW - hardware-in-the-loop

KW - Orbits

KW - PX4 autopilot.

KW - Standards

KW - Task analysis

KW - unmanned aerial vehicles

KW - vector field

KW - Wind speed

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DO - 10.1109/TASE.2022.3144672

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JO - IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering

JF - IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering

SN - 1545-5955

ER -

A Fixed-Wing UAV Formation Algorithm Based on Vector Field Guidance

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Keywords

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