Lili Ma
Cooperative target tracking, balanced circular formation, cyclic pursuit, time-varying formation radius, multi-agent systems
This paper extends our previous results on vision-based target tracking of a ground vehicle by one unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to cooperative tracking using multiple UAVs. Cooperative target tracking is achieved by combining two control efforts together, where one brings each UAV to orbit above the target and the other puts all UAVs in a balanced circular formation. The first control effort is based on our early-designed guidance law that regulates the 2D horizontal distance between one UAV and the target to a constant. This controller is further extended to handle a prescribed time-varying reference to allow more flexible formation patterns. The second control effort is a coordination control law that spreads all UAVs evenly on a circle. These two control efforts together ensure that all UAVs maintain a balanced circular formation whose centre tracks the moving target. The effectiveness of the proposed cooperative target tracking schemes is demonstrated via simulation examples under three communication topologies (an all-to-all communication, a ring topology, and a cyclic pursuit topology).
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