Distributed formation control of fixed wing micro aerial vehicles for area coverage

Teams of fixed wing micro-aerial vehicles (MAVs) could provide a wide area coverage and relay data in wireless ad-hoc networks. In such applications fixed wing MAVs have to be able to regulate an inter-robot distance. Fixed wing MAVs have reduced maneuverability, that is, they cannot perform sharp turns or hover on the spot. This kinematic property presents the main challenge to design a formation algorithm that will regulate inter-MAV distance and cover the desired area. In this paper we present a distributed control strategy that is based on attraction and repulsion between MAVs and relies only on local information. We show in simulation and in field experiments with a team of fixed wing MAVs that using our strategy MAVs can cover an area by creating an equilateral triangular lattice and regulate communication link quality between neighboring MAVs.