UAV formation collision avoidance control method based on improved artificial potential field

For the formation flight of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the problems of collision avoidance among UAVs and obstacle avoidance were investigated. In addition, a collision avoidance control method based on the improved artificial potential field was proposed. The concepts of communication topology and communication weights were introduced via consensus theory. The improved artificial potential field function was given with its effective range. The repulsive potential field between the UAV and an obstacle was defined, and an auxiliary repulsive potential affected by the relative velocity between them was constructed to make the UAV avoid the obstacle more efficiently. Moreover, a total velocity field for collision avoidance and obstacle avoidance was formulated. A collision avoidance algorithm was proposed to generate the orders of velocity, pitch angle, and yaw angle. A flight controller was designed to track these orders, and a whole formation system containing the collision avoidance control algorithm and flight controller was constructed. Three-dimensional flight simulation results show that the proposed method could achieve collision avoidance among UAVs quickly, as well as avoid obstacles effectively.