Hardware-in-the-loop Simulation Platform for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Swarm System: Architecture and Application

A hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) simulation platform is developed for fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarm system. Flight dynamics simulation of multiple UAVs is enabled to run on a single machine simultaneously with full physics and 3D visualized scenes. Flight control system is identical to that on actual UAV, and coordinate control algorithms are implanted on micro computers, separating from underlying attitude control loop on autopilots. Classical UAV swarm control application scenarios including formation and formation alternation are tested. Besides, formation flight experiments combining a physical UAV with simulated UAVs are conducted to evaluate communication network.