Collision-Free Formation-Containment Control Based on Adaptive Sliding Mode Strategy for a Quadrotor Fleet Under Disturbances

This manuscript presents a robust formation and collision-free containment control system designed for a quadrotor fleet operating under turbulent wind conditions. Emphasizing collision avoidance, we introduce a two-layer strategy in which a virtual leader defines a trajectory, and leaders and followers maintain their positions while avoiding collisions among them. A graph convention is used to illustrate the roles of leaders and followers, as well as their interactions. Inter-agent collision avoidance is proposed by expanding the desired distance relative to all neighboring agents, thereby guaranteeing the convergence stage. Moreover, the approach employs a class of adaptive sliding mode strategies to ensure finite-time convergence, as well as non-overestimation of the control gain in the presence of uncertainties and perturbations. A stability analysis demonstrates the practical finite-time stability of the system using the Lyapunov methodology. Results from the simulation underscore the effectiveness of our proposal in adhering to the desired time-varying trajectories and ensuring sensor-less inter-agent collision avoidance for the followers, even in the presence of turbulent wind conditions.