Robust 3D Distributed Formation Control with Application to Quadrotors

TL;DR

This paper introduces a robust distributed control method enabling quadrotors to autonomously form 3D formations using only local relative position data, without relying on global positioning or communication.

Contribution

The proposed approach allows quadrotors to achieve 3D formations using local measurements and is robust to sensor inaccuracies and acceleration effects.

Findings

Successful experimental validation with quadrotors achieving desired formations.

Control strategy is robust to measurement inaccuracies and acceleration effects.

No need for global position data or inter-vehicle communication.

Abstract

We present a distributed control strategy for a team of quadrotors to autonomously achieve a desired 3D formation. Our approach is based on local relative position measurements and does not require global position information or inter-vehicle communication. We assume that quadrotors have a common sense of direction, which is chosen as the direction of gravitational force measured by their onboard IMU sensors. However, this assumption is not crucial, and our approach is robust to inaccuracies and effects of acceleration on gravitational measurements. In particular, converge to the desired formation is unaffected if each quadrotor has a velocity vector that projects positively onto the desired velocity vector provided by the formation control strategy. We demonstrate the validity of proposed approach in an experimental setup and show that a team of quadrotors achieve a desired 3D formation.