Autonomous Close Formation Flight Control with Fixed Wing and Quadrotor Test Beds

Autonomous formation flight is a key approach for reducing energy cost and managing traffic in future high density airspace. The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has allowed low-budget and low-risk validation of autonomous formation flight concepts. This paper discusses the implementation and flight testing of nonlinear dynamic inversion (NLDI) controllers for close formation flight (CFF) using two distinct UAV platforms: a set of fixed wing aircraft named “Phastball” and a set of quadrotors named “NEO.” Experimental results show that autonomous CFF with approximately 5-wingspan separation is achievable with a pair of low-cost unmanned Phastball research aircraft. Simulations of the quadrotor flight also validate the design of the NLDI controller for the NEO quadrotors.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/9517654
• Supplemental Notes:
  • © 2016 Caleb Rice et al.
• Authors:
  • Rice, Caleb
  • Gu, Yu
  • Chao, Haiyang
  • Larrabee, Trenton
  • Gururajan, Srikanth
  • Napolitano, Marcello
  • Mandal, Tanmay
  • Rhudy, Matthew
• Publication Date: 2016

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: Article ID 9517654
• Serial:
  • International Journal of Aerospace Engineering
  • Volume: 2016
  • Publisher: Hindawi Publishing Corporation
  • Serial URL: http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijae
• Publication flags:

  Open Access (libre)

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Airplanes; Automatic controllers; Costs; Drones; Flight control systems; Flight simulators
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Energy; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01608201
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 29 2016 11:08AM