Finite-Time Formation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with Switching Topologies and Disturbances: An Average Dwell Time Approach

This paper investigates the finite-time formation problem of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with switching topologies and external disturbances. The formation problem is first transformed into the finite-time stability and bounded problems of a switched system, respectively. In particular, the finite-time unachievable topology is concerned for unreliable information exchanges. By employing the average dwell time (ADT) method, sufficient criteria are established to deal with the switching topologies such that the desired time-varying formation can be achieved in finite time. Then, the topology-dependent controller can be designed in terms of matrix technique. Finally, an illustrative example is given to verify the effectiveness of our proposed formation strategy.