Distributed UAV formation control using differential game approach

This paper considers a formation control problem for a multiple-UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) system where each UAV is able to exchange information with other UAVs according to a fixed information graph. In this paper, each UAV tries to minimize its own performance index which is chosen independently based on its local information. Because of the UAVs\u27 different objectives, the formation control problem is formulated and solved as a differential game problem. Realizing the incapability of the classical Nash strategy approach in dealing with the distributed information, we propose a novel open-loop Nash strategy design approach for each UAV to implement in a fully distributed manner through estimating its terminal state. An illustrative example of a five-UAV formation control problem is solved under different scenarios. (c) 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved