Scientific Journal of Control Engineering

June 2013, Volume 3 Issue 3, PP.177-183

Research on the Hardware-in-the-loop

Simulation of Multi-UAV Formation Flight
Control System
Benhui Liu#, Sentang Wu, Da Cai
School of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
#

Email: liubenhui2008@yahoo.com.cn

Abstract
This paper describes the design methods of HILS (Hardware-In-the-Loop Simulation) platform, whose purpose is to test the
performance of designed multi-UAV formation flight control system. The platform consists of four subsystems: real time
simulation subsystem based on RTX technique, wireless communication subsystem based on TDMA technique, man-machine
interaction subsystem based on MFC and flight position simulation subsystem based on flight motion, virtual flight motion and
autopilot. The modeling method of multi-UAV formation and design method of controller are introduced firstly, then the
composition and key technologies of every subsystem are presented, finally simulation about the formulation controller is carried
out on this platform. The experimental result shows that this platform can effectively test the performance of formation controller
and also can examine the function of radio station, autopilot and communication protocols, which provides important technical
support for the further flight experiment.
Keywords: UAV; Formation Controller; Hardware-In-the-Loop Simulation; Real Time Simulation; Wireless Communication
Protocols

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1992

Email: liubenhui2008@yahoo.com.cn

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