A Comparison of Linear and Sliding Mode Formation Control for a Multi-quadrotor System

This article presents a comparative study of the performance of two control approaches, linear control and sliding mode control (SMC), for addressing the formation control of a multi-quadrotor system. First, the dynamic system of the quadrotor is modeled using ordinary differential equations (ODEs), describing high nonlinearity and underactuation. Next, the linear control and SMC designs are presented, by considering the closed-loop stability via Lyapunov theory. Finally, both control approaches are tested in Matlab/Simulink for a trajectory tracking formation control task with four follower agents and a virtual leader. The simulation results show that the SMC approach achieves an RMSE of 0.078, while the linear control approach achieves an RMSE of 1.143, highlighting the superiority of the SMC approach in terms of robustness and tracking accuracy.