Decentralized formation control with variable shapes for aerial robots

We address formation control for a team of quadrotors in which the robots follow a specified group trajectory while safely changing the shape of the formation according to specifications. The formation is prescribed by shape vectors which dictate the relative separations and bearings between the robots, while the group trajectory is specified as the desired trajectory of a leader or a virtual robot in the group. Each robot plans its trajectory independently based on its local information of neighboring robots which includes both the neighbor´s planned trajectory and an estimate of its state. We show that the decentralized trajectory planners (a) result in consensus on the planned trajectory for predefined shapes and (b) achieve safe reconfiguration when changing shapes.