Formation of a group of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)

In this paper, control laws are designed to achieve desired flight formations for a group of unmanned (uninhabited) aerial vehicles (UAVs). It is proposed that the formation is led and managed by a leader UAV, which determines desired (for instance, safe and achievable) flight trajectories for a group of follower UAVs. Having the desired trajectories, control laws are designed to achieve flight formations according to one of the following scenarios: 1) Each UAV takes off toward its corresponding trajectory and locks onto it in finite time; UAVs take off independently of each other and one at a time; 2) All UAVs take off simultaneously towards their corresponding trajectories and lock onto them at the same instance of time. Examples are presented to illustrate the efficacy of the designed control laws.