Research on Consistency Control Method of Collaborative Assembly of Aircraft Based on Variable Topology

This paper presents a two-layer consistency control framework for the collaborative assembly of multiple aircraft in complex environments, comprising a low-level control layer and a high-level guidance layer. The control layer develops a robust anti-interference law by integrating an extended state observer (ESO) with Backstepping for attitude control and employing constrained Backstepping for velocity regulation. The guidance layer ensures safe and coordinated assembly. A time-varying communication topology is adopted to guarantee collision-free maneuvers. An assembly trajectory is generated for each aircraft based on a position allocation strategy and the Dubins path planning method. To achieve time-coordinated arrival, a speed consensus protocol is designed, guiding the aircraft into a sparse formation. Subsequently, consensus-based control laws for both attitude and velocity are implemented to transition into a tight formation. The effectiveness of the proposed framework is validated through aircraft six-degree-of-freedom (6-DoF) simulations, which confirm that it significantly improves the safety and robustness of the multi-aircraft assembly process.