In the last decade the development and control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has attracted a lot of interest. Both researchers and companies have a growing interest in improving this type of vehicle given their many civilian and military applications. This book presents the state of the art in the area of UAV Flight Formation. The coordination and robust consensus approaches are presented in detail as well as formation flight control strategies which are validated in experimental platforms. It aims at helping students and academics alike to better understand what coordination and flight formation control can make possible. Several novel methods are presented: - controllability and observability of multi-agent systems; - robust consensus; - flight formation control; - stability of formations over noisy networks; which generate solutions of guaranteed performance for UAV Flight Formation. Contents 1. Introduction, J.A. Guerrero. 2. Theoretical Preliminaries, J.A. Guerrero. 3. Multiagent Coordination Strategies, J.A. Guerrero, R. Lozano, M.W. Spong, N. Chopra. 4. Robust Control Design for Multiagent Systems with Parametric Uncertainty, J.A. Guerrero, G. Romero. 5. On Adaptive and Robust Controlled Synchronization of Networked Robotic Systems on Strongly Connected Graphs, Y.-C. Liu, N. Chopra. 6. Modeling and Control of Mini UAV, G. Flores Colunga, J.A. Guerrero, J. Escareño, R. Lozano. 7. Flight Formation Control Strategies for Mini UAVs, J.A. Guerrero. 8. Formation Based on Potential Functions, L. García, A. Dzul. 9. Quadrotor Vision-Based Control, J.E. Gomez-Balderas, J.A. Guerrero, S. SALAZAR, R. Lozano, P. Castillo. 10. Toward Vision-Based Coordination of Quadrotor Platoons, L.R. García Carrillo, J.A. Guerrero, R. Lozano. 11. Optimal Guidance for Rotorcraft Platoon Formation Flying in Wind Fields, J.A. Guerrero, Y. Bestaoui, R. Lozano. 12. Impact of Wireless Medium Access Protocol on the Quadrotor Formation Control, J.A. Guerrero, Y. Challal, P. Castillo. 13. MAC Protocol for Wireless Communications, A. Mendez, M. Panduro, O. Elizarraras, D. Covarrubias. 14. Optimization of a Scannable Pattern for Bidimensional Antenna Arrays to Provide Maximum Performance, A. Reyna, M.A. Panduro, A. Mendez.

Small satellite technology is opening up a new era in space exploration offering reduced cost of launch and maintenance, operational flexibility with on-orbit reconfiguration, redundancy etc. The true power of such missions can be harnessed only from close and precise formation flying of satellites. Formation flying missions support diverse application areas such as reconnaissance, remote sensing, solar observatory, deep space observatories, etc. A key component involved in formation flying is the guidance algorithm that should account for system nonlinearities and unknown disturbances. The main focus of this book is to present various nonlinear optimal control and adaptive guidance ideas to ensure precise close formation flying in presence of such difficulties. In addition to in-depth discussion of the relevant topics, MATLAB program files for the results included are also provided for the benefit of the readers. Since this book has concise information about the various guidance techniques, it will be useful reference for researchers and practising engineers in the space field.

Space agencies are now realizing that much of what has previously been achieved using hugely complex and costly single platform projects—large unmanned and manned satellites (including the present International Space Station)—can be replaced by a number of smaller satellites networked together. The key challenge of this approach, namely ensuring the proper formation flying of multiple craft, is the topic of this second volume in Elsevier's Astrodynamics Series, Spacecraft Formation Flying: Dynamics, control and navigation. In this unique text, authors Alfriend et al. provide a coherent discussion of spacecraft relative motion, both in the unperturbed and perturbed settings, explain the main control approaches for regulating relative satellite dynamics, using both impulsive and continuous maneuvers, and present the main constituents required for relative navigation. The early chapters provide a foundation upon which later discussions are built, making this a complete, standalone offering. Intended for graduate students, professors and academic researchers in the fields of aerospace and mechanical engineering, mathematics, astronomy and astrophysics, Spacecraft Formation Flying is a technical yet accessible, forward-thinking guide to this critical area of astrodynamics. - The first book dedicated to spacecraft formation flying, written by leading researchers and professors in the field - Develops the theory from an astrodynamical viewpoint, emphasizing modeling, control and navigation of formation flying satellites on Earth orbits - Examples used to illustrate the main developments, with a sample simulation of a formation flying mission included to illustrate high fidelity modeling, control and relative navigation

This book systematically describes the concepts and principles for multi-satellite relative motion, passive and near passive formation designs, trajectory planning and control for fuel optimal formation maneuvers, and formation flying maintenance control design. As such, it provides a sound foundation for researchers and engineers in this field to develop further theories and pursue their implementations. Though satellite formation flying is widely considered to be a major advance in space technology, there are few systematic treatments of the topic in the literature. Addressing that gap, the book offers a valuable resource for academics, researchers, postgraduate students and practitioners in the field of satellite science and engineering.

The first flight test phase of the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center Autonomous Formation Flight project has successfully demonstrated precision autonomous station-keeping of an F/A-18 research airplane with a second F/A-18 airplane. Blended inertial navigation system (INS) and global positioning system (GPS) measurements have been communicated across an air-to-air telemetry link and used to compute relative-position estimates. A precision research formation autopilot onboard the trailing airplane controls lateral and vertical spacing while the leading airplane operates under production autopilot control. Four research autopilot gain sets have been designed and flight-tested, and each exceeds the project design requirement of steady-state tracking accuracy within 1 standard deviation of 10 ft.