This paper tackles the formation-containment control problem of fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarm with model uncertainties for dynamic target tracking in three-dimensional space in the faulty case of UAVs ’ actuator and sensor. The fixed-wing UAV swarm under consideration is organized as a “multi-leader-multi-follower” structure, in which only several leaders can obtain the dynamic target information while others only receive the neighbors’ information through the communication network. To simultaneously realize the formation, containment, and dynamic target tracking, a two-layer control framework is adopted to decouple the problem into two subproblems: reference trajectory generation and trajectory tracking. In the upper layer, a distributed finite-time estimator (DFTE) is proposed to generate each UAV ’s reference trajectory in accordance with the control objective. Subsequently, a distributed composite robust fault-tolerant trajectory tracking controller is developed in the lower layer, where a novel adaptive extended super-twisting (AESTW) algorithm with a finite-time extended state observer (FTESO) is involved in solving the robust trajectory tracking control problem under model uncertainties, actuator, and sensor faults. The proposed controller simultaneously guarantees rapidness and enhances the system ’s robustness with fewer chattering effects. Finally, corresponding simulations are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness and competitiveness of the proposed two-layer fault-tolerant cooperative control scheme.
In the process of performing a task, autonomous unmanned systems face the problem of scene changing, which requires the ability of real-time decision-making under dynamically changing scenes. Therefore, taking the unmanned system coordinative region control operation as an example, this paper combines knowledge representation with probabilistic decision-making and proposes a role-based Bayesian decision model for autonomous unmanned systems that integrates scene cognition and individual preferences. Firstly, according to utility value decision theory, the role-based utility value decision model is proposed to realize task coordination according to the preference of the role that individual is assigned. Then, multi-entity Bayesian network is introduced for situation assessment, by which scenes and their uncertainty related to the operation are semantically described, so that the unmanned systems can conduct situation awareness in a set of scenes with uncertainty. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified in a virtual task scenario. This research has important reference value for realizing scene cognition, improving cooperative decision-making ability under dynamic scenes, and achieving swarm level autonomy of unmanned systems.
This paper proposes the nonlinear direct data-driven control from theoretical analysis and practical engineering, i.e., unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) formation flight system. Firstly, from the theoretical point of view, consider one nonlinear closed-loop system with a nonlinear plant and nonlinear feed-forward controller simultaneously. To avoid the complex identification process for that nonlinear plant, a nonlinear direct data-driven control strategy is proposed to design that nonlinear feed-forward controller only through the input-output measured data sequence directly, whose detailed explicit forms are model inverse method and approximated analysis method. Secondly, from the practical point of view, after reviewing the UAV formation flight system, nonlinear direct data-driven control is applied in designing the formation controller, so that the followers can track the leader’s desired trajectory during one small time instant only through solving one data fitting problem. Since most natural phenomena have nonlinear properties, the direct method must be the better one. Corresponding system identification and control algorithms are required to be proposed for those nonlinear systems, and the direct nonlinear controller design is the purpose of this paper.
This paper concerns minimum-energy leader-following formation design and analysis problems of distributed multi-agent systems (DMASs) subjected to randomly switching topologies and aperiodic communication pauses. The critical feature of this paper is that the energy consumption during the formation control process is restricted by the minimum-energy constraint in the sense of the linear matrix inequality. Firstly, the leader-following formation control protocol is proposed based on the relative state information of neighboring agents, where the total energy consumption is considered. Then, minimum-energy leader-following formation design and analysis criteria are presented in the form of the linear matrix inequality, which can be checked by the generalized eigenvalue method. Especially, the value of the minimum-energy constraint is determined. An illustrative simulation is provided to show the effectiveness of the main results.
With the rapid development of informatization, autonomy and intelligence, unmanned swarm formation intelligent operations will become the main combat mode of future wars. Typical unmanned swarm formations such as ground-based directed energy weapon formations, space-based kinetic energy weapon formations, and sea-based carrier-based formations have become the trump card for winning future wars. In a complex confrontation environment, these sophisticated weapon formation systems can precisely strike mobile threat group targets, making them extreme deterrents in joint combat applications. Based on this, first, this paper provides a comprehensive summary of the outstanding advantages, strategic position and combat style of unmanned clusters in joint warfare to highlight their important position in future warfare. Second, a detailed analysis of the technological breakthroughs in four key areas, situational awareness, heterogeneous coordination, mixed combat, and intelligent assessment of typical unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarms in joint warfare, is presented. An in-depth analysis of the UAV swarm communication networking operating mechanism during joint warfare is provided to lay the theoretical foundation for subsequent cooperative tracking and control. Then, an in-depth analysis of the shut-in technology requirements of UAV clusters in joint warfare is provided to lay a theoretical foundation for subsequent cooperative tracking control. Finally, the technical requirements of UAV clusters in joint warfare are analysed in depth so the key technologies can form a closed-loop kill chain system and provide theoretical references for the study of intelligent command operations.
Air-to-air combat tactical decisions for multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (ACTDMU) are a key decision-making step in beyond visual range combat. Complex influencing factors, strong antagonism and real-time requirements need to be considered in the ACTDMU problem. In this paper, we propose a multicriteria game approach to ACTDMU. This approach consists of a multicriteria game model and a Pareto Nash equilibrium algorithm. In this model, we form the strategy profiles for the integration of air-to-air combat tactics and weapon target assignment strategies by considering the correlation between them, and we design the vector payoff functions based on predominance factors. We propose a algorithm of Pareto Nash equilibrium based on preference relations using threshold constraints (PNE-PRTC), and we prove that the solutions obtained by this algorithm are refinements of Pareto Nash equilibrium solutions. The numerical experiments indicate that PNE-PRTC algorithm is considerably faster than the baseline algorithms and the performance is better. Especially on large-scale instances, the Pareto Nash equilibrium solutions can be calculated by PNE-PRTC algorithm at the second level. The simulation experiments show that the multicriteria game approach is more effective than one-side decision approaches such as multiple-attribute decision-making and randomly chosen decisions.
