Adaptive Finite-Time Control for Formation Tracking of Multiple Nonholonomic Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with Quantized Input Signals

Signal quantization can reduce communication burden in multiple unmanned aerial vehicle (multi-UAV) system, whereas it brings control challenge to formation tracking of multi-UAV system. This study presents an adaptive finite-time control scheme for formation tracking of multi-UAV system with input quantization. The UAV model contains nonholonomic kinematic model and autopilot model with uncertainties. The nonholonomic states of the UAVs are transformed by a transverse function method. For input quantization, hysteretic quantizers are used to reduce the system chattering and new decomposition is introduced to analyze the quantized signals. Besides, a novel transformation of the control signals is designed to eliminate the quantization effect. Based on the backstepping technique and finite-time Lyapunov stability theory, the adaptive finite-time controller is established for formation tracking of the multi-UAV system. Stability analysis proves that the tracking error can converge to an adjustable small neighborhood of the origin within finite time and all the signals in closed-loop system are semiglobally finite-time bounded. Simulation experiment illustrates that the system can track the reference trajectory and maintain the desired formation shape.