Decentralized formation flight control of multiple fixed-wing UAVs with a virtual leader

Formation flight control of multiple fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is studied from the view of decentralized cooperative control. The formation geometry is described by a set of expected positions for all UAVs with respect to the heading of the group. Taking UAVs as autonomous agents, information flow graph is employed to describe the information exchange between UAVs. Considering the kinematics of fixed-wing UAVs and the purpose of formation flight, a decentralized formation flight control strategy via local information exchange and relative position control is presented, which consists of two parts, one is to synchronize the motion of UAVs, while the other is to achieve and maintain the formation geometry. A virtual leader is introduced additionally to regulate the velocity and heading of the group. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed formation flight control strategy and the necessity of introducing a virtual leader for formation flight control of multiple fixed-wing UAVs.