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Leader-Follower Strategy of Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles via Split Rejoin Maneuvers

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Lecture Notes in Data Engineering, Computational Intelligence, and Decision Making (ISDMCI 2022)

Abstract

In this paper, we adopt the Lyapunov- based Control Scheme (LbCS) architecture to propose a motion planner for several fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). We implement the leader-follower formation type here, where the flock has to navigate in a workspace cluttered with obstacles with respect to its leader to reach its pre-defined targets. In our case, the obstacles will be spherical fixed obstacles and the moving aircrafts in the swarm itself becomes the obstacles for all the other members. This needs to be avoided to successfully achieve the task. The flock navigates the environment in its pre-defined formation and moves towards its target. In the event of an obstacle, the flock splits and rejoins later in a safer location, regaining the desired shape. A set of nonlinear acceleration-based controllers using the Lyapunov-based Control Scheme are designed to achieve this task successfully. The controllers presented will guarantee the UAVs coordinate their motion in a well-planned manner and make sure the aircraft converge to their desired target while avoiding obstacles intersecting their path. The computer-generated simulations of a number of virtual scenarios have been looked at where different predefined formations of the flock have been designed. These simulations show the effectiveness of the proposed nonlinear acceleration control laws, revealing the simplicity and effectiveness of the control technique used. The paper finally ends with a conclusion and future work recommendations in this area.

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Correspondence to Roneel Chand .

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Chand, R., Raghuwaiya, K., Vanualailai, J. (2023). Leader-Follower Strategy of Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles via Split Rejoin Maneuvers. In: Babichev, S., Lytvynenko, V. (eds) Lecture Notes in Data Engineering, Computational Intelligence, and Decision Making. ISDMCI 2022. Lecture Notes on Data Engineering and Communications Technologies, vol 149. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16203-9_14

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