Distributed output-feedback formation tracking control for unmanned aerial vehicles

This paper considers the output-feedback formation problem of tracking a desired trajectory for a group of networked unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). By introducing a state observer, the controller for the non-holonomic UAV model can be designed without linear and angular velocities measurements. The formation robustness can be improved by applying the virtual structure and synchronising the path parameters. It is proved that, with the proposed control strategy, all the closed-loop signals are bounded and the formation tracking errors asymptotically converge to zero. Simulation results are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.