Virtual-Tube-Based Cooperative Transport Control for Multi-UAV Systems in Constrained Environments

2026-02-05

AI Summary

This work addresses the challenges of obstacle avoidance, formation coordination, and system stability in collaborative transportation of suspended payloads by multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) operating in constrained environments. The authors propose a computationally efficient cooperative control framework grounded in virtual tube guidance and dissipative system theory. By dynamically reconfiguring the UAV formation in response to obstacle distributions, the approach enables adaptive tension allocation among the agents and achieves highly robust cooperative control. The methodology inherently supports scalability to large-scale multi-UAV systems, with simulations demonstrating its extensibility and real-world field experiments validating its feasibility and strong robustness in complex, unstructured environments.

Technology Category

• Multiagent Systems: Coordination and Collaboration
• Intelligent Robots: Multi-Robot Systems
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Sustainability and carbon-aware systems for Web, mobile, and WoT
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Federated recommendation systems and personalization

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel control framework for cooperative transportation of cable-suspended loads by multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) operating in constrained environments. Leveraging virtual tube theory and principles from dissipative systems theory, the framework facilitates efficient multi-UAV collaboration for navigating obstacle-rich areas. The proposed framework offers several key advantages. (1) It achieves tension distribution and coordinated transportation within the UAV-cable-load system with low computational overhead, dynamically adapting UAV configurations based on obstacle layouts to facilitate efficient navigation. (2) By integrating dissipative systems theory, the framework ensures high stability and robustness, essential for complex multi-UAV operations. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is validated through extensive simulations, demonstrating its scalability for large-scale multi-UAV systems. Furthermore, the method is experimentally validated in outdoor scenarios, showcasing its practical feasibility and robustness under real-world conditions.

Problem

• multi-UAV systems
• cooperative transport
• constrained environments
• cable-suspended loads
• obstacle navigation

Innovation

• virtual tube
• dissipative systems
• cooperative transport
• multi-UAV
• cable-suspended load