Decentralized coordination control of multiple autonomous UAVs

Coordination is based on communication and information share among multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The centralized coordination control is difficult to implement since the highly distributed information and computation, the UAV movement, and the changing information network topology. The decentralized coordination control is scalable, heterogeneous, reconfigurable, and robust. The structure of coordination control system for multiple UAVs with the characteristics of decentralized control and centralized control is proposed. The centralized mission management system implements the target allocation, communication management, and formation management. The decentralized coordination system implements the local mission planning, coordination strategy, and control. Some examples of decentralized coordination control of multiple autonomous UAVs, such as coordination target tracking, consensus coordination among multiple UAVs and multiple formations, formation control and reconfiguration, are investigated. The decentralized coordination mechanism, strategy, control, and the relation with the information topology are analyzed. Some simulation results are given.