Multi-UAV coordination control by chaotic grey wolf optimization based distributed MPC with event-triggered strategy

The paper proposes a new swarm intelligence-based distributed Model Predictive Control (MPC) approach for coordination control of multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). First, a distributed MPC framework is designed and each member only shares the information with neighbors. The Chaotic Grey Wolf Optimization (CGWO) method is developed on the basis of chaotic initialization and chaotic search to solve the local Finite Horizon Optimal Control Problem (FHOCP). Then, the distributed cost function is designed and integrated into each FHOCP to achieve multi-UAV formation control and trajectory tracking with no-fly zone constraint. Further, an event-triggered strategy is proposed to reduce the computational burden for the distributed MPC approach, which considers the predicted state errors and the convergence of cost function. Simulation results show that the CGWO-based distributed MPC approach is more computationally efficient to achieve multi-UAV coordination control than traditional method.