Cooperative Control of Autonomous Flight Vehicles Formation

Abstract

This report presents results from research dealing with the aspects of automated formation management and control necessary for the development of a dual controller capable of keeping a given formation structure and allowing the formation to follow specified paths. The report contains two parts. Part I describes the results obtained, and methodologies developed, for the dynamics and control of unmanned air vehicles flying in a formation. Part II describes a fuzzy-set approach to the guidance and control management of these vehicles to establish conditions for successful target intercept. Chapter 1, Formation Flight Dynamic Modelling, focuses on Aerodynamic Modeling, including the Distributed Horse Shoe Vortex Technique, Induced Velocity Calculation, and Force and Moment Coefficients; and Formation Dynamics, including Modified Equations of Motion and Formation Kinematics. Chapter 2, Formation Flight Control, looks at the Natural Behavior of Migratory Birds, Formation Geometry Center, Inner-Loop Synthesis, Formation Controller Design, and Simulation Results. Chapter 3, Reconfiguration in the Presence of Communications Failures, examines Formation Flight Management; Optimal Communications, such as the Virtual Leader and Graph Theory Approach; Communications Failure, including Communication Topology Reconfiguration and the Broadcast Channel; and Aircraft Position Reconfiguration, including Aircraft Loss, Receiver Failure, and Failure Management during Aircraft Loss. Chapter 4, Stability of Gain Scheduling using Fuzzy Sets, focuses on Modeling and Control, Stability Analysis, and Case Studies. Chapter 5 examines a Guidance Methodology using Fuzzy Sets and Waypoints. Chapter 6 examines Aircraft Dynamics and Control Systems, Fuzzy Guidance System (FGS) Design and Simulation, Problems with the First FGS, the Second FGS Structure, and Management of Moving Waypoints. (62 figures, 35 refs.)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 29, 2004
Accession Number
ADA424475

Entities

People

  • Mario Innocenti

Organizations

  • University of Pisa

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aerospace Craft
  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • Communication Channels
  • Computational Science
  • Control Systems
  • Dead Reckoning
  • Flight Control Systems
  • Fuzzy Sets
  • Geometry
  • Guidance
  • Mathematical Models
  • Three Dimensional
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • Unmanned Systems
  • Unmanned Vehicles
  • Vehicles

Readers

  • Business Analytics
  • Robotics and Automation.

Technology Areas

  • Autonomy
  • Autonomy - Autonomous System Control