UAV Formation Control Under Wind Disturbance Effects

Challenges in Maintaining Stability of UAV Formations Under Wind Disturbances

The core challenge in UAV formation flight lies in compensating for external airflow disturbances. When multiple UAVs fly in close formation, wind variations cause relative positional deviations between individual units, where traditional single-UAV control strategies often fail to maintain overall formation integrity.

Simulink simulation environment provides an ideal platform for such research. By establishing simulation systems incorporating aerodynamic models, distributed communication protocols, and cooperative control algorithms, scenarios involving gusts and turbulence can be accurately modeled. Key modeling components include: calculations of fluid dynamics equations in three-dimensional space, graph theory-based communication topology design, and neighbor state feedback mechanisms accounting for time delays.

Mainstream solutions typically employ hierarchical control architecture: The lower layer ensures individual UAV disturbance rejection through PID or sliding mode control, while the upper layer adjusts formation parameters using consensus algorithms. Notably, modern approaches incorporate adaptive weighting mechanisms that automatically reduce following weights for edge nodes when strong airflow is detected, preventing disturbance propagation and amplification within the formation. Experimental data demonstrates that such hybrid control strategies can maintain over 85% formation accuracy under level-6 crosswinds.

Recent advancements in this field include intelligent disturbance rejection strategies integrating reinforcement learning, and active flow field prediction techniques leveraging fluid dynamics principles. These methods are advancing UAV formations from laboratory environments toward practical applications in complex airspace.