Consensus in Networks of Nonlinear Integrators with Applications to Coordinated Path Following Control of Fixed-Wing UAVs

This paper investigates the problems of consensus in networks of nonlinear integrators, as well as the coordinated path following control of multiple fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Firstly, by employing the notions related to reduction theorem, it is shown that the classic consensus protocol is still effective for networks of nonlinear integrators, which are the nonlinear generalization of integrators with bounded inputs. The requirement to achieve consensus is still that the underlying digraphs contain directed spanning trees. Then the results are employed to design a novel coordinated path following control law for heterogeneous fixed-wing UAVs with control input constraints. Asymptotic stability of the closed-loop system is theoretically guaranteed, as long as the requirement for consensus is satisfied.