Distributed Formation Control for Fixed-Wing UAVs with Input MRS

In this paper, the distributed formation tracking control problem is investigated for multiple fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) considering input magnitude and rate saturation (MRS) constraints. First, a first-order input MRS model is constructed. Next, the distributed leader state observer is designed to facilitate the acquisition of the leader information for each follower UAV. Then, by virtue of the backstepping method and the disturbance observer, the formation control law for each fixed-wing UAV is designed and the stability analysis is presented using the Lyapunov theory. Finally, a numerical example is given to verify the performance of the designed control strategy.