UAV Formation Wight Control Law Utilizing Energy Maneuverability

This paper deals with the energy saving problem of the follower aircraft in the loose leader-follower formation geometry in which the lateral separation between formation members is more than a wingspan of the leader aircraft. This formation geometry offers no drag benefit, but has a strategic advantage. In the case of loose formation flight, the follower aircraft usually consumes more energy than the leader aircraft because the follower aircraft should use more thrust to maintain given formation geometry, especially during the turning phase from the outside of the leader"s flight path or join-up phase. A formation control scheme based on the energy maneuverability is proposed in this paper. To design the proposed control law, the velocity command is designed using feedback linearization for the horizontal formation geometry and then coverts it to the altitude command using the energy equation. Numerical simulation is performed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed controller.