Observability-Aware Control for Quadrotor Formation Flight with Range-Only Measurement

Cooperative localization is a promising approach to achieving safe quadrotor formation flight through precise positioning via low-cost interdrone sensors. This paper develops an observability-aware control principle tailored to quadrotor formation flight with range-only interdrone measurements. The control principle is based on a novel approximation of the local observability gramian (LOG), which we name the short-term local observability gramian (STLOG). The validity of STLOG is established by proving its link to directional estimation precision in nonlinear systems. We propose the observability predictive controller (OPC), a receding-horizon controller that generates optimal inputs to enhance information gain in weakly observable state directions by maximizing the minimum eigenvalue of the STLOG. This reduces the risk of estimator divergence due to the unbounded growth of uncertainty in weakly observed state components. Monte Carlo simulations and flight experiments are conducted with quadrotors in a GNSS-denied ferrying mission, showing that the OPC improves positioning confidence and estimator robustness.