Pairwise control in swarm flocking with application to UAVs

We propose a pairwise cooperative mode and control method to perform short-range cooperative missions of two specific UAVs in a swarm. The pair of UAVs can converge simultaneously to a specified distance and keep flocking with others. For pairwise control, we propose a new sliding mode control architecture including “Quadratic Error Sliding Surface” and “Sliding Mode Sign Multiplier”, which have the advantages of simple parameter design, high precision, and anti-disturbance ability. The proposed sliding surface is reachable, and the controller is stability which is proved based on the Lyapunov stability theory. Finally, to verify the influence of the pairwise control effect in swarm flight, simulations were carried out with a different number of UAVs based on the quadrotor nonlinear dynamic model. Compared with the classical control method, the simulations demonstrate the superiority in control accuracy.