Distributed Fractional-Order Finite-Time Control for Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

This paper investigates the distributed fractional-order finite-time tracking control problem for multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (multi-UAVs) in distributed communication network. The finite-time convergence can be achieved by the combination of distributed sliding-mode observer (DSMO), fractional-order sliding-mode surface, and fractional-order control technique. The key features are that each UAV in the formation team can only access its neighboring UAVs' information and the finite-time control scheme is designed by utilizing the fractional-order control technique. By using Lyapunov method and graph theory, it is shown that all UAVs in the topology can track the leader UAV and the tracking errors are uniformly ultimately bounded.