Cooperative Circumnavigation for Multi-Quadrotor Systems via Onboard Sensing

作者：Xueming Liu, Li Lin, Xiang Zhou, Qingrui Zhang, Tianjiang Hu · 发表于：IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1109/lra.2025.3588752 · 被引用次数：4 · 研究领域：Underwater Vehicles and Communication Systems、Robotic Path Planning Algorithms、Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems

A cooperative circumnavigation framework is proposed for multi-quadrotor systems to enclose and track a moving target without reliance on external localization systems. The distinct relationships between quadrotor-quadrotor and quadrotor-target interactions are evaluated using a heterogeneous perception strategy and corresponding state estimation algorithms. A modified Kalman filter is developed to fuse visual-inertial odometry with range measurements to enhance the accuracy of inter-quadrotor relative localization. An event-triggered distributed Kalman filter is designed to achieve robust target state estimation under visual occlusion by incorporating neighbor measurements and estimated inter-quadrotor relative positions. Using the estimation results, a cooperative circumnavigation controller is constructed, leveraging an oscillator-based autonomous formation flight strategy. We conduct extensive indoor and outdoor experiments to validate the efficiency of the proposed circumnavigation framework in occluded environments. Furthermore, a quadrotor failure experiment highlights the inherent fault tolerance property of the proposed framework, underscoring its potential for deployment in search-and-rescue operations.