Design and implementation of a leaderfollower （被领导的设计和实现）.pdf

J Control Theory Appl 2010 8 (1) 61–68 DOI 10.1007/s11768-010-9188-6 Design and implementation of a leader-follower cooperative control system for unmanned helicopters Ben YUN 1, Ben M. CHEN 1, Kai Yew LUM 2 , Tong H. LEE 1 (1.Department of Electrical Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117576; 2.Temasek Laboratories, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117508) Abstract: In this paper, we present a full scheme for the cooperative control of multiple unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) helicopters. We adopt the leader-follower pattern to maintain a fixed geometrical formation while navigating the UAVs following certain trajectories. More specifically, the leader is commanded to fly on some predefined trajectories, and each follower is controlled to maintain its position in formation using the measurement of its inertial position and the information of the leader position and velocity, obtained through a wireless modem. More specifications are made for multiple UAV formation flight. In order to avoid possible collisions of UAV helicopters in the actual formation flight test, a collision avoidance scheme based on some predefined alert zones and protected zones is employed. Simulations and experimental results are presented to verify our design. Keywords: Unmanned aerial vehicles; Cooperative control; Flight formation; Collision avoidance 1 Introduction tern to maintain a fixed geometrical