Time Coordination of Multiple UAVs over Switching Communication Networks with Digraph Topologies

TL;DR

This paper introduces a decentralized time-coordination algorithm for multiple UAVs operating over switching digraph communication networks, enabling effective cooperation without requiring bidirectional links and reducing communication overhead.

Contribution

It develops a novel switching law for coordination over directed graphs, allowing UAVs to coordinate with weakly connected, switching digraph topologies without bidirectional communication assumptions.

Findings

The algorithm achieves coordination with reduced communication.

Lyapunov analysis guarantees convergence to a neighborhood of zero error.

Simulation confirms effectiveness over traditional bidirectional communication methods.

Abstract

This paper presents a time-coordination algorithm for multiple UAVs executing cooperative missions. Unlike previous algorithms, it does not rely on the assumption that the communication between UAVs is bidirectional. Thus, the topology of the inter-UAV information flow can be characterized by digraphs. To achieve coordination with weak connectivity, we design a switching law that orchestrates switching between jointly connected digraph topologies. In accordance with the law, the UAVs with a transmitter switch the topology of their coordination information flow. A Lyapunov analysis shows that a decentralized coordination controller steers coordination errors to a neighborhood of zero. Simulation results illustrate that the algorithm attains coordination objectives with significantly reduced inter-UAV communication compared to previous work.