Distributed Formation-Containment Control of Quadrotors Based on Differential Flatness

Ningbo An; Qishao Wang; Xiaochuan Zhao; Xiuhui Peng; Qingyun Wang

doi:10.1109/TMECH.2025.3639065

Distributed Formation-Containment Control of Quadrotors Based on Differential Flatness

Ningbo An
, Qishao Wang^*
, Xiaochuan Zhao
, Xiuhui Peng
, Qingyun Wang

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Aeronautic Science and Engineering

Beihang University
China North Industries Group Corporation Limited
Beijing Key Laboratory of Evolutionary Vertical Takeoff and Landing Aircraft Technology
Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This article solves the formation-containment problem of quadrotor swarms by using differential flatness. By exploiting the differential flatness property of quadrotor swarms, the formation-containment control objective is embedded in the differential flatness mapping. A differential flatness-based distributed formation-containment controller is designed. Using the differential flatness mapping, feedforward is constructed to achieve tracking of high-order trajectories. To address the underactuation issue, a distributed feedback control based on acceleration projection is constructed to achieve the desired acceleration. Stability of the formation-containment error dynamics is analyzed using Lyapunov theory, and the attraction domain is provided. Effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by real-world vision-based formation-containment experiments.

Original language	English
Journal	IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/TMECH.2025.3639065
State	Accepted/In press - 2025

Keywords

Differential flatness
distributed control
formation-containment control
multiagent systems

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10.1109/TMECH.2025.3639065

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@article{06121568ab9b46df8bf15d7c19201cde,

title = "Distributed Formation-Containment Control of Quadrotors Based on Differential Flatness",

abstract = "This article solves the formation-containment problem of quadrotor swarms by using differential flatness. By exploiting the differential flatness property of quadrotor swarms, the formation-containment control objective is embedded in the differential flatness mapping. A differential flatness-based distributed formation-containment controller is designed. Using the differential flatness mapping, feedforward is constructed to achieve tracking of high-order trajectories. To address the underactuation issue, a distributed feedback control based on acceleration projection is constructed to achieve the desired acceleration. Stability of the formation-containment error dynamics is analyzed using Lyapunov theory, and the attraction domain is provided. Effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by real-world vision-based formation-containment experiments.",

keywords = "Differential flatness, distributed control, formation-containment control, multiagent systems",

author = "Ningbo An and Qishao Wang and Xiaochuan Zhao and Xiuhui Peng and Qingyun Wang",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 1996-2012 IEEE.",

year = "2025",

doi = "10.1109/TMECH.2025.3639065",

language = "英语",

journal = "IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics",

issn = "1083-4435",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Distributed Formation-Containment Control of Quadrotors Based on Differential Flatness

AU - An, Ningbo

AU - Wang, Qishao

AU - Zhao, Xiaochuan

AU - Peng, Xiuhui

AU - Wang, Qingyun

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - This article solves the formation-containment problem of quadrotor swarms by using differential flatness. By exploiting the differential flatness property of quadrotor swarms, the formation-containment control objective is embedded in the differential flatness mapping. A differential flatness-based distributed formation-containment controller is designed. Using the differential flatness mapping, feedforward is constructed to achieve tracking of high-order trajectories. To address the underactuation issue, a distributed feedback control based on acceleration projection is constructed to achieve the desired acceleration. Stability of the formation-containment error dynamics is analyzed using Lyapunov theory, and the attraction domain is provided. Effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by real-world vision-based formation-containment experiments.

AB - This article solves the formation-containment problem of quadrotor swarms by using differential flatness. By exploiting the differential flatness property of quadrotor swarms, the formation-containment control objective is embedded in the differential flatness mapping. A differential flatness-based distributed formation-containment controller is designed. Using the differential flatness mapping, feedforward is constructed to achieve tracking of high-order trajectories. To address the underactuation issue, a distributed feedback control based on acceleration projection is constructed to achieve the desired acceleration. Stability of the formation-containment error dynamics is analyzed using Lyapunov theory, and the attraction domain is provided. Effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by real-world vision-based formation-containment experiments.

KW - Differential flatness

KW - distributed control

KW - formation-containment control

KW - multiagent systems

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105026110679

U2 - 10.1109/TMECH.2025.3639065

DO - 10.1109/TMECH.2025.3639065

M3 - 文章

AN - SCOPUS:105026110679

SN - 1083-4435

JO - IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics

JF - IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics

ER -

Distributed Formation-Containment Control of Quadrotors Based on Differential Flatness

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Keywords

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