Formation maneuvers in three dimensions

The flying of aircraft in formation necessitates the extension of the theory of formation flight control to allow for three dimensional formation maneuvers. A leader and wingman formation is considered. A rotating reference frame attached to the wingman is used and special attention is given to the motion of the leader relative to the wingman. A seven state, three input, and three disturbance signal control system which models the dynamics of a two-aircraft formation in three dimensional space is developed. Two formation flight control concepts are investigated. A proportional, integral, and derivative automatic control system to maintain the wing aircraft in the specified formation geometry despite the leader´s maneuvers is designed, and its performance is examined in simulation experiments