A Distributed Composite Formation Control Approach for a Multi-quadrotor System

Attitude consensus and formation tracking control of a multi-agent system with quadrotors as its agents are discussed in this paper. For controlling formation and consensus, two control loops are designed: inner loop and outer loop. A multi-agent control protocol is developed based on two control approaches. One approach is used for the inner loop, and another is used for the outer loop of the multi-agent system. Each approach is based on a combination of integral backstepping control and sliding mode control for using their advantages. In addition, both leader–follower-based and virtual structure-based formation protocols are studied here. Effectiveness of the proposed protocol is confirmed by stability proof and some simulations. Comparing the presented control protocol with three other protocols shows its superior performance. Finally, comparing the leader–follower structure and virtual structure is conducted to demonstrate the advantages of this protocol in both structures.