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arXiv · 2506.20954

Cooperative Circumnavigation for Multi-Quadrotor Systems via Onboard Sensing

Xueming Liu·Lin Li·Xiang Zhou·Qingrui Zhang·Tianjiang Hu
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Abstract

A cooperative circumnavigation framework is proposed for multi-quadrotor systems to enclose and track a moving target without reliance on external localization systems. The distinct relationships between quadrotor-quadrotor and quadrotor-target interactions are evaluated using a heterogeneous perception strategy and corresponding state estimation algorithms. A modified Kalman filter is developed to fuse visual-inertial odometry with range measurements to enhance the accuracy of inter-quadrotor relative localization. An event-triggered distributed Kalman filter is designed to achieve robust target state estimation under visual occlusion by incorporating neighbor measurements and estimated inter-quadrotor relative positions. Using the estimation results, a cooperative circumnavigation controller is constructed, leveraging an oscillator-based autonomous formation flight strategy. We conduct extensive indoor and outdoor experiments to validate the efficiency of the proposed circumnavigation framework in occluded environments. Furthermore, a quadrotor failure experiment highlights the inherent fault tolerance property of the proposed framework, underscoring its potential for deployment in search-and-rescue operations.

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Xueming Liu, Lin Li, Xiang Zhou, Qingrui Zhang, Tianjiang Hu. 2025-06-26. Cooperative Circumnavigation for Multi-Quadrotor Systems via Onboard Sensing. https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.20954

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