Abstract
In this paper, collision-free guidance control of multiple small unmanned aerial vehicles (SUAVs) is designed. Collision avoidance of the SUAVs should be considered in the control system design for safe operation. Therefore, a guidance control system using a distributed model predictive control (DMPC) is proposed to realize the collision avoidance. A constraint for the relative position vector between the each UAV is considered in the design for efficient avoidance. Small multi-rotor helicopter is considered as controlled object, and the guidance control system is designed by using the translational model of the helicopter. DMPC is designed with three constraints, an input constraint, a state constraint, and a relative position vector constraint. An input constraint and a state constraint realize collision avoidance in input within the constant limits. If the moving path of the one helicopter is significantly affected by the moving path of other helicopter, the relative position vector constraint makes the helicopters exchange their relative position each other. By using these constraints, smooth collision avoidance is realized. The numerical simulation and flight experiment is conducted to verify the effectiveness of designed control system.
