Formation control of UGVs using an UAV as remote vision sensor

Abstract

A leader-follower formation control scheme based on SRV-1 UGVs and an AR. DRONE 2.0 UAV as remote vision sensor is presented in this paper. The main advantage of the proposed strategy lies on the flexibility obtained from a flight remote sensor, as it makes possible to locate the agents at larger distances between them or to extend more easily the number of agents in the formation. A full description of the internal control designed for the UGVs and the UAV is presented, including the image processing procedure implemented to robustly measure the pose of the vehicles in the formation. Finally, experimental results using a triangular formation of three ground robots illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.