Cooperative Control of Fixed-wing Drones Using Relative Jacobian with Obstacle Avoidance

This paper implements a new strategy to perform cooperative control for fixed-wing drones by the use of a relative Jacobian, with a subsequent method of avoiding obstacles while flying cooperatively. We present a derivation of the corresponding relative Jacobian for two fixed-wing drones that is expressed in modular form. We perform two experiments: using absolute pitch movement and another using absolute yaw movement in order to avoid obstacles, while simultaneously controlling the relative position with respect to each other. Experimental results are shown and analysed. Simulation experiments were perform in Gazebo and ROSflight to show relative position and orientation with respect to each other, absolute orientation with respect to the world, and obstacle avoidance.