A Leader-Follower Trajectory Tracking Controller for Multi-Quadrotor Formation Flight

Abstract

The aim of this work is to design a control system based on modern control methods to control flight formations of quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicles. A leader-follower methodology is implemented where the leader vehicle has some predefined trajectory and the follower vehicles are controlled in order to track the leader keeping a constant displacement. The formation control system, responsible for the vehicle formation, considers, at first, only the motion at constant height, and secondly, the three-dimensional motion. In both cases, the nonlinear control laws are derived based on Lyapunov stability theory and the Backstepping method. The control laws are validated in simulation resorting to a realistic environment and vehicle models.