A modular framework for fast prototyping of cooperative unmanned aerial vehicle

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are gaining increasing interest thanks to their flexibility and versatility. However, these systems are very complex and a good simulation platform is needed. In this paper, a new Framework for simulation and fast prototyping of UAV control laws is presented. The Framework exploits the high realism of the simulations carried out in a three-dimensional virtual environment with the easiness of use of development systems such as Matlab® for fast prototyping of control systems. Then a novel method that exploits the benefits of Model Predictive Control (MPC) for cooperative scenarios is introduced. The obtained results show good performances of MPC in solving the formation problem of unmanned aerial vehicles; finding an optimal solution and taking into account different constraints. The developed framework allows also to easily change from simulated agent to real one. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.