Relaxed formation in cluttered environments using rotor-craft UAV

Though multi-agent formation and consensus have been studied intensively recently, very few of the research focuses on their engineering realization using rotor-craft unmanned air vehicle (UAV) as the basic platform. Some assumptions in many theoretical study present challenges in engineering realization, such as the over-simplified dynamic model or sensor model of each agent. In this paper, we present an engineering approach of path planning and trajectory generation based on the model predictive control (MPC) with implementations on small-size, low-cost rotor-craft UAV platform. The proposed method presents a practical solution to the low level path planning and obstacle avoidance problem while opening possibilities for other high level mission planning logic. Based on this method, a study on relaxed formation with two quad-rotor UAV in cluttered environment is presented without making any idealized assumptions in measurement, communication and control.