An integrated framework for cooperative ground and aerial vehicle missions utilizing Matlab and X-Plane

This paper presents an integrated control framework for the simulation and visualization of cooperative missions for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). The X-Plane simulator is utilized to simulate vehicle dynamics and visualize experiments in realistic environments, whereas the control algorithms are executed and validated in Matlab/Simulink. A novel approach to integrate ground vehicles in X-Plane is presented and an overall open source framework is developed to facilitate the interaction and usability of the two software programs used. The framework facilitates research in cooperative vehicle control, path planning, formation control, and centralized control topologies through straightforward and cost effective system simulation, visualization and evaluation.