Coordinated Flight Path Generation and Fuzzy Model-Based Control of Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Windy Environments

This paper presents a new approach to coordinated flight path generation and control of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). A key feature of this paper is to present a new method for generating plural complicated paths and for achieving coordinated path following control of multiple UAVs in windy environments. To coordinate among plural flight paths for multiple UAVs, this paper newly introduces ratio parameters and path-length variables that are able to easily express a wide variety of complicated flight paths. Using the ratio parameters and path-length variables, kinematic models of UAVs defined on Serret–Frenet frame are exactly converted into augmented Takagi–Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy models in considered operation domains of UAVs. Stabilization conditions for the augmented T-S fuzzy models are derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities and are utilized to obtain stable feedback gains of the T-S fuzzy controllers. Finally, the simulation results demonstrate that the designed controllers can stabilize the UAVs on complicated paths in coordinated flight under windy environments.