Nonlinear-MPC based Distributed Navigation for Multiple UAVs with Limited Field-of-View

This letter proposes a Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) based distributed control scheme for navigation of multiple UAVs with limited Field-of-View (FoV). Each UAV distributedly maintains connectivity with its target UAV. We consider a GPS-denied environment, with UAVs relying on information from onboard sensors which have limited FoV. Generally, due to the dynamics of the UAV, the sensing task can often collide with the motion task. Also, UAVs have physical constraints which make those tasks more difficult. In our method, NMPC is used to handle these tasks under constraints. The performance of our method is verified by a simulation.