Predefined-Time Platoon Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle with Range-Limited Communication

Abstract

In this paper, the predefined-time platoon control for multiple uncertain unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) under range-limited communication and external disturbance constraints is considered. A novel control scheme, which can guarantee communication connectivity, collision avoidance, and the predefined convergence time simultaneously, is proposed. To achieve disturbance robustness, an observer-based distributed control law is firstly proposed with a time-varying gain. Then, a radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) with an adaptive tuning law is applied to approximate uncertainties of the system. Under the time and error transformation techniques, uniformly ultimate boundedness (UUB) stability of the closed-loop system is guaranteed within predefined convergence time. Compared with the existing results, the proposed method allows the system to have UUB within any predefined time without depending on the initial conditions or system parameters. Finally, simulation results are presented to verify the derived theorem.