Unmanned aerial vehicle formation obstacle avoidance control based on light transmission model and improved artificial potential field

Abstract

To overcome the limitations of the conventional artificial potential field (APF) method, which is commonly used for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) formation obstacle avoidance control. A novel UAV formation obstacle avoidance control method based on a light transmission model (LTM) and an improved APF method is proposed. First, inspired by the flight of bird flocks, we combine the LTM with an APF function to present an improved APF model which can help UAV find feasible free space to maneuver. From this, UAV can overcome the drawbacks of non-reachable and local minima under the action of LTM. Then, the obstacle avoidance strategy based on the fixed-wing UAV motion model is proposed, and the obstacle avoidance control algorithm for UAV formation is designed. Finally, simulation results show the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method, which can result in a dramatic improvement in the performance of UAV formation to obstacle avoidance under the complex and non-deterministic environment.