Coordinated Formation Guidance Law for Fixed-Wing UAVs Based on Missile Parallel Approach Method

Abstract

This paper presents a classic missile-type parallel-approach guidance law for fixed-wing UAVs in coordinated formation flight. The key idea of the proposed guidance law is to drive each follower to follow the virtual target point. Considering the turning ability of each follower, the formation form adopts the semi-perfect rigid form, which does not require the vehicle positions form a rigid formation, and the orientations keep consensus. According to the mission characteristics of the follower following a leader and the leader following a route, three guidance laws for straight, turning, and circling flight are designed. A series of experiments demonstrate the proposed guidance law’s improved response and maneuvering stability. The results of hardware-in-the-loop simulations and real flight tests prove that the proposed guidance law satisfies the practical UAV formation flight control demands.