Reconfigurable formations of quadrotors on Lissajous curves for surveillance applications

This paper proposes trajectory planning strategies for online reconfiguration of a multi-agent formation on a Lissajous curve. In our earlier work, a multi-agent formation with constant parametric speed was proposed in order to address multiple objectives such as repeated collision-free surveillance and guaranteed sensor coverage of the area with ability for rogue target detection and trapping. This work addresses the issue of formation reconfiguration within this context. In particular, smooth parametric trajectories are designed for the purpose using calculus of variations. These trajectories have been employed in conjunction with a simple local cooperation scheme so as to achieve collision-free reconfiguration between different Lissajous curves. A detailed theoretical analysis of the proposed scheme is provided. These surveillance and reconfiguration strategies have also been validated through simulations in MATLABreg for agents performing parametric motion along the curves, and by Software-In-The-Loop simulation for quadrotors. In addition, they are validated experimentally with a team of quadrotors flying in a motion capture environment.