Quadrotor Formation Control via Terminal Sliding Mode Approach: Theory and Experiment Results

Abstract

This article presents a formation tracking control method for the operation of multi-agent systems under disturbances. This study aims to ensure that the followers of a quadcopter converge into the desired formation while the center formation of the follower quadcopters tracks the leader’s trajectory within a finite time. The distributed finite-time formation control problem is first investigated using the fast terminal sliding mode control (FTSMC) theory. A disturbance observer is then integrated into the FTSMC to overcome the model uncertainties and bounded disturbances. Subsequently, the Lyapunov function is proposed to ensure the stability of the system. It is shown that formation tracking control can be achieved even in the presence of disturbances. Simulation and experimental results verify the effectiveness of the proposed formation tracking control method compared to existing ones.