• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.183-192
• /
• 2013

This paper presents formation reconfiguration using impulsive control input for spacecraft formation flying. Spacecraft in a formation should change the formation size and/or geometry according to the mission requirements and space environment. To modify the formation radius and geometry with respect to the leader spacecraft, the follower spacecraft generates additional control inputs; the two impulsive control inputs are general control type of the spacecraft system. For the impulsive control input, Lambert's problem is modified to construct the transfer orbit in relative motion, given two position vectors at the initial and final time. Moreover, the numerical simulation results show the transfer trajectories to resize the formation radius in the radial/along-track plane formation and in the along-track/cross-track plane formation. In addition, the maneuver characteristics are described by comparing the differential orbital elements between the reference orbit and transfer orbit in the radial/along-track plane formation and along-track/cross-track plane formation.

• ETRI Journal
• /
• v.38 no.5
• /
• pp.1008-1018
• /
• 2016

This paper presents a control scheme for the leader-following formation of multiple robots. The control scheme combines the sliding mode control (SMC) method with the nonlinear disturbance observer (NDOB) technique. The formation dynamics suffer from uncertainties because the individual robots are uncertain. Concerning such formation uncertainties, the leader-following formation dynamics are modeled. Assuming that the formation uncertainties have an unknown boundary, an NDOB-based observer was designed to estimate the formation uncertainties. A sliding surface containing the observer outputs has been defined. Regarding the sliding surface, an SMC-based controller was investigated to form uncertain robots. A sufficient condition in the sense of the Lyapunov theory was proven such that the formation system is asymptotically stable. Herein, some comparison results between the sole SMC method and the second-order SMC method are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the control scheme for multiple robots in the presence of uncertainties.

• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.115-121
• /
• 2022

This paper proposes a distributed model predictive formation control algorithm for a group of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) with guaranteeing collision avoidance between UGVs. Generally, the model predictive control based formation control has a disadvantage in that it takes a long time to compute control inputs when considering collision avoidance between UGVs. In this paper, in order to overcome this problem, the formation control algorithm is implemented in a distributed manner so that it could be individually controlled. Also, a collision-avoidance method considering real-time is proposed. The proposed formation control algorithm is implemented based on robot operating system (ROS), open source-based middleware. Through the various simulation tests, it is confirmed that the formation control of five UGVs is successfully performed while avoiding collisions between UGVs.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• v.37 no.1
• /
• pp.51-60
• /
• 2020

This study designs and analyzes satellite formation flying concepts for the Small scale magNetospheric and Ionospheric Plasma Experiments (SNIPE) mission, that will observe the near-Earth space environment using four nanosats. To meet the requirements to achieve the scientific objectives of the SNIPE mission, three formation flying concepts are analyzed: a cross-shape formation, a square-shape formation, and a cross-track formation. Of the three formation flying scenarios, the cross-track formation scenario is selected as the final scenario for the SNIPE mission. The result of this study suggests a relative orbit control scenario for formation maintenance and reconfiguration, and the initial relative orbits of the four nanosats meeting the formation requirements and thrust limitations of the SNIPE mission. The formation flying scenario is validated by calculating the accumulated total thrust required for the four nanosats. If the cross-track formation scenario presented in this study is applied to the SNIPE mission, it is expected that the mission will be successfully accomplished.

• Advances in robotics research
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.41-59
• /
• 2014

This paper deals with the problem of steering a group of mobile robots along a reference path while maintaining a desired geometric formation. To solve this problem, the overall formation is decomposed into numerous geometric patterns composed of pairs of robots, and the state of the geometric patterns is defined. A control algorithm for the problem is proposed based on the Nash equilibrium strategies incorporating receding horizon control (RHC), also known as model predictive control (MPC). Each robot calculates a control input over a finite prediction horizon and transmits this control input to its neighbor. Considering the motion of the other robots in the prediction horizon, each robot calculates the optimal control strategy to achieve its goals: tracking a reference path and maintaining a desired formation. The performance of the proposed algorithm is validated using numerical simulations.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.19 no.5
• /
• pp.429-434
• /
• 2013

This paper proposes a CPSO (Cooperative Particle Swarm Optimization)-based MPC (Model Predictive Control) scheme to deal with formation control problem of multiple nonholonomic mobile robots. In a distributed MPC framework, each robot needs to optimize control input sequence over a finite prediction horizon considering control inputs of the other robots where their cost functions are coupled by the state variables of the neighboring robots. In order to optimize the control input sequence, a CPSO algorithm is adopted and modified to fit into the formation control problem. Experiments are performed on a group of nonholonomic mobile robots to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed CPSO-based MPC for multi-robot formation.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.14 no.12
• /
• pp.1212-1217
• /
• 2008

This paper studies the feasibility of using the nonlinear model predictive control as a formation flight control algorithm for unmanned aerial vehicles. The optimal control inputs for formation flight are calculated through the cost function which incorporates the relative positions of the individual vehicles to maintain a desired formation and also the inequality constraints on inputs and states using the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions. In the nonlinear model predictive control setting, the optimal control inputs are implemented in a receding horizon manner, which is suitable for dealing with dynamic constraints. Numerical simulations are executed for the validation of the proposed scheme.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.207-214
• /
• 2010

This paper proposes about decentralized control approach based Leader-Follower formation control using LOS (Line of Sight) algorithm and unknown input observer. The position of robots which is a basic information in multi-robot or single robot motion control is determined by localization algorithm fusing UPS (Ultrasonic Position System) and kinematics model. For formation control, a decentralized control approach individually installing a local controller in leader and follower robot is adopted. Leader robot is controlled to track a specified trajectory by LOS algorithm, and the other robots follow the leader by local controller based on tracking platoon level function, self-sensing data and estimated information from unknown input observer. The performance of proposed method is proven through the formation experiment of two vehicle models.

• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
• /
• v.11 no.6
• /
• pp.343-351
• /
• 2016

In this study, we implemented a formation flight control system using two drones. Ground control system communicates with drones by MAVLink protocol, does keep watch on drone's status and sends simultaneously formation flight instructions to drones in real time. Two drones have been able to fly by a formation flight algorithm without crashing while maintaining the same speed, and a constant distance and altitude.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
• /
• v.60 no.11
• /
• pp.2147-2151
• /
• 2011

In this paper, we propose the formation control algorithm for swarm robots. The proposed algorithm uses the artificial potential field(APF) to plan the global path of swarm robots and to control the formation movement. The navigation function generates a global APF for a leader robot to reach a given destination and an avoidance function generates a local APF for follow robots to avoid obstacles. Finally, some simulations show the validity of the proposed method.