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Experimental Implementation of a Leader-Follower Strategy for Quadrotors Using a Distributed Architecture

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Abstract

This paper deals with a distributed experimental implementation of a leader-follower coordination scheme using quadrotors. A set of inter-agent distances defines the position of the followers about the leader. The desired position of each agent is kept using a robust local nonlinear controller in combination with a distributed trajectory generator. The distributed implementation comes from the fact that each quadrotor has an onboard digital processor to compute its control algorithm, and there is a wireless communication channel between the leader and the followers. Real-time experiments show the performance of the distributed leader-follower strategy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ingeniería Eléctrica, CINVESTAV-IPN, Av. Instituto Politécnico Nacional 2508, 07360, México D. F., México

    Juan A. Vargas-Jacob & José J. Corona-Sánchez

  2. Departamento de Ingenieréa Eléctrica, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Belisario Domínguez 22, Col. Centro, México D. F., México

    H. Rodríguez-Cortés

  3. Centro de Desarrollo Aeroespacial del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, México, D. F., México

    H. Rodríguez-Cortés

Authors
  1. Juan A. Vargas-Jacob
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  2. José J. Corona-Sánchez
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  3. H. Rodríguez-Cortés
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Correspondence to H. Rodríguez-Cortés.

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Vargas-Jacob, J.A., Corona-Sánchez, J.J. & Rodríguez-Cortés, H. Experimental Implementation of a Leader-Follower Strategy for Quadrotors Using a Distributed Architecture. J Intell Robot Syst 84, 435–452 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-015-0327-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-015-0327-7

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