Adaptive finite‐time formation tracking control for multiple nonholonomic UAV system with uncertainties and quantized input

Summary An adaptive finite‐time formation tracking control approach is proposed for multiple unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system with quantized input signals in this paper. The UAVs are described by nonholonomic kinematic model and autopilot model with uncertainties. An enhanced hysteretic quantizer is introduced to avoid chattering, and some restrictions are released by using a new quantization decomposition method. Based on backstepping technique and finite‐time Lyapunov stability theory, the adaptive finite‐time controller is designed for the trajectory tracking of the multi‐UAV formation. The nonholonomic constraints are solved by a transverse function. A transformation is introduced to the control input signals to eliminate the quantization effect. Stability analysis proves that the tracking errors can converge to a small neighborhood of the origin within finite time and all the closed‐loop signals are semiglobally finite‐time bounded. The effectiveness of the proposed control approach is validated by simulation and experiment.