Differential evolution-based receding horizon control design for multi-UAVs formation reconfiguration

Formation reconfiguration is one of the most complicated problems on multiple uninhabited aerial vehicles (multi-UAVs) co-ordinated control. Based on the differential evolution (DE) algorithm, a novel type of control method using receding horizon control (RHC) is proposed aiming at driving multi-UAVs to form a new flying formation. The global control problem of multi-UAVs formation reconfiguration is transformed into several online local optimization problems within a series of receding horizons, while the DE algorithm is adopted to optimize the control sequences for each UAV. The working process of the RHC controller is presented in detail. Finally, two simulation experiments are performed, and simulation results show the feasibility and effectiveness of our proposed control approach.