Two PVTOLs cooperative slung‐load transport control based on passivity

Abstract

This work addresses the problem of two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) transporting a slung‐load on a plane. The vehicles presented are a simplified version of the classical planar vertical take‐off and landing (PVTOL). The proposed solution implements a decentralized control scheme based on the concept of passivity where there is no explicit communication between agents. This is accomplished by taking advantage of the physical connection between the agents and the load. In contrast with similar control algorithms based on force control, like impedance filters, the objective is to drive the system into a state of minimal energy. In addition to this, the presented control strategy differs from other passivity based methods, like an interconnection and damping assignment passivity‐based control, in that the method can also be used to accommodate more complex control strategies that do not necessarily depend on the energy of the system.