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Volume 10
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10.3390/drones10060415
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Article

Distributed Adaptive Time-Varying Output Formation Tracking for Heterogeneous Small Fixed-Wing UAVs and Nonholonomic UGVs Under Switching Directed Topologies

by
Weijie Huang
,
Lei Tian
,
Hao Chen
* and
Xiangke Wang
College of Intelligence Science and Technology, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Drones 2026, 10(6), 415; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones10060415
Submission received: 24 April 2026 / Revised: 25 May 2026 / Accepted: 26 May 2026 / Published: 27 May 2026
Versions Notes

Abstract

This paper investigates time-varying output formation (TVOF) tracking for heterogeneous small fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and nonholonomic unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). The small fixed-wing UAVs operate in three-dimensional space, and the UGVs move on a two-dimensional plane, leading to heterogeneous dynamics with nonholonomic constraints, asymmetric velocity constraints, and input saturation. To address these challenges, distributed adaptive control protocols are developed under switching directed communication topologies. Unlike existing TVOF tracking methods that require global information, the proposed protocols do not rely on the upper bound of the leader’s unknown input or the eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix. A constructive parameter-selection algorithm is provided, and the closed-loop stability is established using Lyapunov theory. Numerical simulations involving heterogeneous UAV-UGV formations verify that the proposed method achieves TVOF tracking under random disturbance while satisfying the prescribed motion constraints.
Keywords: distributed adaptive protocols; heterogeneous time-varying output formation tracking; nonholonomic and asymmetric velocity constraints; switching directed topologies distributed adaptive protocols; heterogeneous time-varying output formation tracking; nonholonomic and asymmetric velocity constraints; switching directed topologies

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Huang, W.; Tian, L.; Chen, H.; Wang, X. Distributed Adaptive Time-Varying Output Formation Tracking for Heterogeneous Small Fixed-Wing UAVs and Nonholonomic UGVs Under Switching Directed Topologies. Drones 2026, 10, 415. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones10060415

AMA Style

Huang W, Tian L, Chen H, Wang X. Distributed Adaptive Time-Varying Output Formation Tracking for Heterogeneous Small Fixed-Wing UAVs and Nonholonomic UGVs Under Switching Directed Topologies. Drones. 2026; 10(6):415. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones10060415

Chicago/Turabian Style

Huang, Weijie, Lei Tian, Hao Chen, and Xiangke Wang. 2026. "Distributed Adaptive Time-Varying Output Formation Tracking for Heterogeneous Small Fixed-Wing UAVs and Nonholonomic UGVs Under Switching Directed Topologies" Drones 10, no. 6: 415. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones10060415

APA Style

Huang, W., Tian, L., Chen, H., & Wang, X. (2026). Distributed Adaptive Time-Varying Output Formation Tracking for Heterogeneous Small Fixed-Wing UAVs and Nonholonomic UGVs Under Switching Directed Topologies. Drones, 10(6), 415. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones10060415

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