Problems of Group Pursuit of a Target in a Perturbed Environment

Abstract

In this paper, we consider some game-theory problems of group pursuit of a target under perturbations. Here, the players are unmanned flight vehicles (FVs) whose mathematical models are given by transfer functions that describe a double-loop control system with an autopilot and certain settings to provide the necessary stability of flight. According to the separation principle, without loss of generality, solutions are considered in a pitch plane. In the case of an antagonistic game, the velocity of the target is higher than that of the pursuers. The problem is solved when one of the pursuers gets close enough to the target or when the target manages to evade the pursuers. The target tracking problem implies that a randomly-arranged FV group approaches the target and flights near it during a specified time period. The low-velocity target seeks to evade the pursuers as far as possible. Finally, in the path following problem, each FV needs to fly along the trajectory given by the motion of a corresponding reference target. In the process of problem solving, each FV implements a set of heuristic behavioral strategies in a perturbed environment by following the rules of pitch angle and velocity selection. In the experimental part of this paper, some situations typical for these problems are modeled.