Distributed Self-Triggered Formation Control for Fixed-Wing UAVs with Velocity and Overload Limits

This work addresses the self-triggered distributed formation control of fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with constrained velocity and overload capabilities. By using the sampled local information of relative position, a novel control strategy integrating inner-outer loop structure and self-triggered sampling mechanism is proposed. To ensure practical feasibility, the velocities and overloads of the fixed-wing UAVs are kept within specified ranges by introducing proper saturation limits into the control loops. The analysis shows that infinitely fast sampling is avoided, and the objective of formation control is reached provided that the interconnection topology contains a spanning tree. Simulations validate the efficacy of the proposed approach.