A Method of Multi-aircrafts Cooperative Control Using Sliding Mode Technology in Formation Flight

In order to achieve the multi-aircrafts cooperative flight and improve the performance of the vehicle’s tracking control, a method of multi-aircrafts cooperative flight control using sliding mode technology is proposed. The nonlinear differential equation of the vehicle’s motion is built. Then, the formation kinematics model is built to depict the relative motion among the multi-aircrafts. Finally, the trajectory tracking controller is designed by using the sliding mode technology, and its stability is proven by the Lyapunov stability principle. The controller can ensure the vehicle track trajectory precisely. The simulation results show that the proposed method has strong ability to follow the ideal trajectory, and the follow error is small. Also, the proposed formation control method can achieve the multi-aircrafts cooperative flight.