Immersion and Invariance Disturbance Observer-Based Fault-Tolerant Formation Control of Multi-UAVs under Safety Constraints

Immersion and Invariance Disturbance Observer-Based Fault-Tolerant Formation Control of Multi-UAVs under Safety Constraints | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Immersion and Invariance Disturbance Observer-Based Fault-Tolerant Formation Control of Multi-UAVs under Safety Constraints Ruian Wang, Wei Hao, Tong Mei, Wenlai Ma This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9137978/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 11 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This paper investigates safety-constrained control problem in multi-UAV formation systems considering both unknown time-varying disturbances and actuator faults. To enhance the disturbance rejection capability of the system, an immersion and invariance disturbance observer is developed to accurately estimate disturbances in real-time. Then, an adaptive sliding mode fault-tolerant formation controller is proposed to ensure consensus in multi-UAV systems, which incorporates a neural network to compensate for system uncertainties. Building on the fault-tolerant formation controller, high-order control barrier functions are incorporated into a locally formulated quadratic programming (QP) for each UAV to ensure inter-UAV and obstacle avoidance safety, which minimally adjusts the fault-tolerant formation control input only when safety constraints become active. Numerical simulations and real-time experiments demonstrate the effectiveness and safety performance of the proposed control strategy. multi-UAVs formation control fault-tolerant control disturbance observation safety enforcement adaptive sliding mode control Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 13 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 10 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 03 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 27 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 27 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 24 Mar, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 24 Mar, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 17 Mar, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 17 Mar, 2026 First submitted to journal 16 Mar, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9137978","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":611667020,"identity":"7194a978-95e8-47ac-a367-73c3d5a87fb4","order_by":0,"name":"Ruian Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shandong University of Aeronautics","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ruian","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":611667024,"identity":"5cf0c9dd-0a95-4f1d-aaee-23135c3aa843","order_by":1,"name":"Wei Hao","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAtklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCSD+wMAMZxOnhXEGyVqYeUjSYnC7+eFjmz/Wif0NzAdv8zDY5RHWcueYsXFuW3rijANsydY8DMnFBLWY3Ugwk85tOJzYcIDHTJqH4UBiA2Et6d+kLf4cTpx/gP8bsVpyzKQZ2A4nbjjAw0acFvsbOcWGvW3pxhsPsxlbzjFIJqxFckb6xgc//ljLzjve/PDGmwo7wloQABw1BsSrHwWjYBSMglGABwAAxAE7CIl1458AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Shandong University of Aeronautics","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wei","middleName":"","lastName":"Hao","suffix":""},{"id":611667030,"identity":"960e762d-2d15-4cd1-adeb-acb8ebdefb25","order_by":2,"name":"Tong Mei","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shandong University of Aeronautics","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tong","middleName":"","lastName":"Mei","suffix":""},{"id":611667034,"identity":"6c174df5-2f5a-4397-b9a3-205a9267c20a","order_by":3,"name":"Wenlai Ma","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shandong University of Aeronautics","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wenlai","middleName":"","lastName":"Ma","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-16 12:39:07","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9137978/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9137978/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":105566226,"identity":"78ab3138-1333-4588-816e-726d8320483c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-27 12:55:47","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":29714856,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"snarticletemplate.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9137978/v1_covered_65f1828a-8174-49ff-8919-84b5856e2746.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Immersion and Invariance Disturbance Observer-Based Fault-Tolerant Formation Control of Multi-UAVs under Safety Constraints","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nonlinear-dynamics","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"nody","sideBox":"Learn more about [Nonlinear Dynamics](https://www.springer.com/journal/11071)","snPcode":"11071","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/11071/3","title":"Nonlinear Dynamics","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"multi-UAVs formation control, fault-tolerant control, disturbance observation, safety enforcement, adaptive sliding mode control","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9137978/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9137978/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThis paper investigates safety-constrained control problem in multi-UAV formation systems considering both unknown time-varying disturbances and actuator faults. 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