Prescribed‐Time Attitude Bipartite Consensus Tracking Control for Multi‐UAV Systems

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the prescribed‐time attitude bipartite consensus tracking control problem of multi‐unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems under directed graphs. Currently, in the field of bipartite consensus tracking control, algorithms based on finite‐time stability and fixed‐time stability have been developed. However, existing schemes exhibit significant limitations: finite‐time stability algorithms rely on the system's initial states for convergence time, resulting in insufficient temporal controllability. Fixed‐time stability algorithms involve complex coupling among convergence time, system parameters, and control gains, which prevents arbitrary presetting of the convergence moment. This paper introduces the prescribed‐time stability theory, whose core advantage is the ability to preset the convergence time. To achieve this goal, a novel hybrid distributed observer is first designed to ensure accurate estimation of the leader's states within the prescribed‐time. Based on the observer output, a prescribed‐time sliding mode surface (SMS) and the corresponding tracking control law are constructed to drive the multi‐UAV system to achieve attitude bipartite consensus tracking within the prescribed‐time. The proposed scheme not only guarantees the tracking performance within the prescribed time but also avoids the numerical implementation challenges caused by infinite time‐varying gains in traditional prescribed‐time control. Finally, the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method are verified through rigorous theoretical analysis and multiple sets of numerical simulations.