We study the dynamics of the relative motion of satellites in the gravitational field of the Earth, including the effects of the bulge of the Earth (the J2 effect). Using Routh reduction and dynamical systems ideas, a method is found that locates orbits such that the cluster of satellites remains close with very little dispersing, even with no controls. The use of controls in the context of thi...

Formation flight can result in large induced drag reductions. Optimum spanloads for a group of aircraft flying in an arrow formation were found using a discrete vortex method with a Trefftz plane analysis under constraints in lift, pitching moment and rolling moment coefficients. It has been shown that large reductions in induced drag can be obtained when the spanwise and vertical distances bet...

Many formation guidance laws have been proposed for UAV formation flight. Since most autonomous formation flight methods require various active communication links between the vehicles to know motion information of other vehicles, damage to the receiver or the transmitter and communication delay are critical problem to achieve a given formation flight mission. Therefore, in this point of view, ...

The first flight test phase of the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center Autonomous Formation Flight project has successfully demonstrated precision autonomous station-keeping of an F/A-18 research airplane with a second F/A-18 airplane. Blended inertial navigation system (INS) and global positioning system (GPS) measurements have been communicated across an air-to-air telemetry link and used to c...

To monitor large areas or simultaneously measure multiple points, multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) must be flown in formation. To perform such flights, sensor information generated by each UAV should be shared via communications. Although a variety of studies have focused on the algorithms for formation flight, these studies have mainly demonstrated the performance of formation flight u...