Collision Avoidance for Multiple Quadrotors Using Elastic Safety Clearance Based Model Predictive Control

Abstract

When multiple quadrotors fly in a cluttered environment, collision-free flight must be assured. In this paper, we propose a novel elastic safety clearance based model predictive control (ESC-MPC) for multiple maneuverable quadrotors to avoid collisions in the presence of disturbance. This is accomplished through leveraging tube based model predictive control to maintain the quadrotor in a tube of trajectories. Exponential control barrier function (ECBF) is integrated to realize the elastic safety clearance mechanism which offers a dynamic safety margin in maneuverable flight. We validate the superiority of our approach with laboratory experiments.