Integrated threat assessment method of beyond-visual-range air combat

doi:10.23919/JSEE.2025.000011

Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics ›› 2025, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (1): 176-193.doi: 10.23919/JSEE.2025.000011

• SYSTEMS ENGINEERING • Previous Articles

Integrated threat assessment method of beyond-visual-range air combat

Xingyu WANG(), Zhen YANG(), Shiyuan CHAI(), Yupeng HE(), Weiyu HUO(), Deyun ZHOU()

School of Electronics and Information, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China

Received:2023-09-14 Online:2025-02-18 Published:2025-03-18
Contact: Zhen YANG E-mail:wxy_npu@mail.nwpu.edu.cn;yz@nwpu.edu.cn;chaishiyuan@mail.nwpu.edu.cn;yupeng_he@mail.nwpu.edu.cn;huoweiyu@mail.nwpu.edu.cn;dyzhou@nwpu.edu.cn
About author:
WANG Xingyu was born in 1998. He received his B.S. degree from Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, China, in 2020, and M.S. degree from Northwestern Polytechnical University, China, in 2023. He is pursuing his Ph.D. degree with the School of Electronic Science and Technology, Northwestern Polytechnical University. His research interests include intelligent air combat system modeling and simulation, and autonomous maneuvering decision-making. E-mail: wxy_npu@mail.nwpu.edu.cn

YANG Zhen was born in 1993. He received his B.S. degree, M.S. degree and Ph.D. degree from Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU), Xi’an, China, in 2014, 2017, and 2020, respectively. Currently, he is an associate professor at the School of Electronics and Information, NPU. His current research interests include intelligent air combat system modeling and simulation, autonomous maneuvering decision-making, and integrated avionics fire control system simulation and testing. E-mail: yz@nwpu.edu.cn

CHAI Shiyuan was born in 1996. He received his B.S. degree and M.S. degree from Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China, in 2019 and 2022 respectively. He is pursuing his Ph.D. degree with the School of Electronic Science and Technology, Northwestern Polytechnical University. His research interests include reinforcement learning, and autonomous maneuvering decision-making. E-mail: chaishiyuan@mail.nwpu.edu.cn

HE Yupeng was born in 1996. He received his B.S. degree and M.S. degree from Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China, in 2019 and 2022 respectively. He is pursuing his Ph.D. degree with the School of Electronic Science and Technology, Northwestern Polytechnical University. His research interests include cluster unmanned systems, and intelligent avionics microsystems. E-mail: yupeng_he@mail.nwpu.edu.cn

HUO Weiyu was born in 1996. He received his B.S. degree and M.S. degree from Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China, in 2019 and 2022 respectively. He is pursuing his Ph.D. degree with the School of Electronic Science and Technology, Northwestern Polytechnical University. His current research interests include reinforcement learning, autonomous maneuvering decision-making, and self-play game. E-mail: huoweiyu@mail.nwpu.edu.cn

ZHOU Deyun was born in 1964. He received his B.S. degree, M.S. degree and Ph.D. degree from Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China, in 1985, 1988, and 1991, respectively. He is currently a professor with Northwestern Polytechnical University. His current research interests include integrated control theory and application, information fusion, and intelligent information processing. E-mail: dyzhou@nwpu.edu.cn
First author contact:
Co-first author
Supported by:
The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (62006193;62103338), the Aeronautical Science Foundation of China (2022Z023053001), the Key Research and Development Program of Shaanxi Province (2024GX-YBXM-115), and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(D5000230150).

Abstract

Abstract:

Beyond-visual-range (BVR) air combat threat assessment has attracted wide attention as the support of situation awareness and autonomous decision-making. However, the traditional threat assessment method is flawed in its failure to consider the intention and event of the target, resulting in inaccurate assessment results. In view of this, an integrated threat assessment method is proposed to address the existing problems, such as overly subjective determination of index weight and imbalance of situation. The process and characteristics of BVR air combat are analyzed to establish a threat assessment model in terms of target intention, event, situation, and capability. On this basis, a distributed weight-solving algorithm is proposed to determine index and attribute weight respectively. Then, variable weight and game theory are introduced to effectively deal with the situation imbalance and achieve the combination of subjective and objective. The performance of the model and algorithm is evaluated through multiple simulation experiments. The assessment results demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed method in BVR air combat, indicating its potential practical significance in real air combat scenarios.

Key words: beyond-visual-range (BVR), air combat, threat assessment, game theory, variable weight theory

Xingyu WANG, Zhen YANG, Shiyuan CHAI, Yupeng HE, Weiyu HUO, Deyun ZHOU. Integrated threat assessment method of beyond-visual-range air combat[J]. Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics, 2025, 36(1): 176-193.

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Type	Threat value
Attack	0.8
Defense	0.3
Detect	0.6
Interfere	0.5
Escape	0.1

Event threat	Type	Threat value
Enemy radar keeps scanning	Sufficient	0.2
	Little insufficient	0.17
	Insufficient	0.14
	Severe insufficient	0.1
Enemy radar keeps interfering	Sufficient	0.3
	Little insufficient	0.27
	Insufficient	0.24
	Severe insufficient	0.2
Enemy radar keeps tracking	Sufficient	0.5
	Little insufficient	0.47
	Insufficient	0.44
	Severe insufficient	0.4
Missile is eligible for launch	−	$ 0.8 \cdot \alpha $
Enemy launches a missile	−	$ 1 \cdot \alpha $

Number	Type	$ \varphi $/(°)	$ q $/(°)	d/km	H/m	v/(m·s⁻¹)	Intention	Event	Number of missiles launched
1	A	−45	100	50	7000	300	Attack	Enemy radar keeps tracking our plane	0
2	A	−45	135	70	6500	325	Defense	Enemy radar keeps scanning our plane	0
3	C	80	−120	60	8800	320	Attack	Enemy missile is eligible for launch	1
4	B	15	−135	60	8300	330	Interfere	Enemy radar keeps tracking our plane	0

Number	Grey correlation degree of positive ideal solution	Grey correlation degree of negative ideal solution	Relative closeness	Threat sorting
1	0.780	0.801	0.493	3
2	0.560	1	0.359	4
3	1	0.803	0.555	1
4	0.842	0.756	0.527	2

Number	Grey correlation degree of positive ideal solution	Grey correlation degree of negative ideal solution	Relative closeness	Threat sorting
1	1	0.907	0.525	1
2	0.964	0.928	0.510	2
3	0.989	1	0.497	3
4	0.946	0.978	0.492	4

Integrated threat assessment method of beyond-visual-range air combat

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Type	$ {\varphi _{\text{mk}\max }} $	$ {\varphi _{m\max }} $	$ {\varphi _{r\max }} $	$ {D_{m\min }} $	$ {D_{\text{mk}\min }} $	$ {D_{\text{mk}\max }} $	$ {D_{m\max }} $	$ {D_{r\max }} $	$ {v_{{\mathrm{bv}}}} $	$ {h_{{\mathrm{bh}}}} $
A	25	45	70	8	12	30	60	120	320	9000
B	30	50	80	8	12	40	80	150	360	9500
C	20	40	65	8	20	30	50	100	300	8600

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