Formation Flight of Fixed-Wing Aircraft

Dear Colleagues,

Over the last few years, the massive diffusion of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) has fostered research in the areas of control and path planning, especially with the application of this technology to multi-rotor platforms; coordinated flight for swarms of multi-copters has also been investigated. Despite this, formation flight in association with fixed-wing aircraft has received less attention.

However, for aeronautical engineers, it is a well-known fact that a fixed-wing configuration can starkly extend range and endurance compared to a multi-rotor configuration carrying a comparable weight. This advantage on flight performance can be further exploited through formation flight, thus retaining the mild requirements in terms of runway length, lower-weight machine complexity and suitably designed fixed-wing drones, all while increasing the overall mission payload.

Of course, in a complex scenario, where the swarm needs to face obstacles, disturbances and threats, an understanding of the best flight trajectory, the ideal intra-swarm control logic, etc., require a dedicated attention and research effort, which has started increasing only recently.

The present Special Issue is dedicated to the broad and open topic of fixed-wing swarms, with at least four major focal points:

• Dynamics and simulation of the swarm;
• Mission planning, path planning and guidance;
• Intra-formation logics, including in terminal maneuvers (take-off, landing), collision/threat avoidance maneuvers, as well as flying rendezvous and split-up procedures;
• Swarm operations, including application scenarios, airspace integration issues, mission profitability studies, and possibly including results of practical testing.

Quality contributions in these and related fields are welcome in order to gather a significant body of knowledge in this growing field.

Prof. Dr. Carlo E. D. Riboldi
Guest Editor

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