Multi-UAV Path Following using Vector-Field Guidance
Incremental extension of vector-field guidance to multi-UAV scenarios with collision avoidance and spacing control.
This paper proposes a decentralized framework for multi-UAV path following that ensures collision avoidance and uniform spacing along a reference path using vector-field guidance and a rotational repulsion mechanism. Numerical simulations validate the approach, but no concrete performance numbers are provided.
This paper presents a decentralized, collision-free framework for path following guidance of multiple uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), while maintaining uniform spacing along a reference path. A vector field-based guidance law is employed to drive each UAV toward the reference path. A rotational repulsion mechanism, utilizing relative distance and bearing between UAVs, is proposed to avoid collisions during convergence to the path, and an inter-UAV spacing error-based velocity control law is presented to achieve uniform separation along the path. Analytical guarantees are established for collision avoidance and convergence of the inter-UAV spacing errors to zero, ensuring uniform separation along the path. Numerical simulations demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method.