Abstract: To solve the formation containment control problem of multi-UAV system under switching topology,a distributed controller based on consistency algorithm was designed.The formation control problem of leader was transformed into consensus problem by variable substitution.Then,by the special decomposition of Laplacian matrix,the consensus problem was simplified to the asymptotic stability problem of low-order systems.Through the Laplacian matrix property with multi-leaders,the follower’s containment control problem was transformed into an asymptotic stability problem.The concept of average dwell time of switching topology was given.Combining linear matrix inequalities and Lyapunov functions,the design steps of the consensus controller were given.It is also proved that the multi-UAV system with switching topology can achieve formation containment state flight under the action of the designed controller.Simulation results of multi-UAV system in three-dimensional space show that the designed consensus controller solves the problem of formation containment control of multi-UAV system under switching topology.

Key words: Consensus, Formation containment control, Linear matrix inequalities, Lyapunov function, Multi-leader, Multi-UAV system