Cooperative Target Capture in 3D Engagements over Switched Dynamic Graphs

2025-07-02

AI Summary

This paper addresses the problem of synchronized three-dimensional interception of stationary targets by leaderless multi-interceptor systems, confronting challenges including lateral-acceleration-only actuation, strong coupling between pitch and yaw channels, dynamically switching communication topologies, and time-varying uncertainty in time-to-go (TTG) estimation. To tackle these, we propose a coupled three-dimensional cooperative guidance law: (i) a distributed consensus protocol over switching dynamic graphs ensures state coordination; (ii) instantaneous three-dimensional lateral acceleration commands are directly optimized—bypassing conventional decoupling and thus preserving guidance performance; and (iii) a time-varying TTG estimation error compensation term is incorporated to guarantee prescribed-time convergence under affine constraints. Simulation results demonstrate high-precision simultaneous impact across diverse initial configurations, confirming the method’s robustness against uncertainties and its capability for real-time cooperative engagement.

Technology Category

• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems
• Intelligent Robots: State Estimation
• Multiagent Systems: Coordination and Collaboration

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Experiences and lessons learnt from Web-based algorithms and system deployments
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: User modeling and simulation for interactive and conversational systems
• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements

Abstract

This paper presents a leaderless cooperative guidance strategy for simultaneous time-constrained interception of a stationary target when the interceptors exchange information over switched dynamic graphs. We specifically focus on scenarios when the interceptors lack radial acceleration capabilities, relying solely on their lateral acceleration components. This consideration aligns with their inherent kinematic turn constraints. The proposed strategy explicitly addresses the complexities of coupled 3D engagements, thereby mitigating performance degradation that typically arises when the pitch and yaw channels are decoupled into two separate, mutually orthogonal planar engagements. Moreover, our formulation incorporates modeling uncertainties associated with the time-to-go estimation into the derivation of cooperative guidance commands to ensure robustness against inaccuracies in dynamic engagement scenarios. To optimize control efficiency, we analytically derive the lateral acceleration components in the orthogonal pitch and yaw channels by solving an instantaneous optimization problem, subject to an affine constraint. We show that the proposed cooperative guidance commands guarantee consensus in time-to-go values within a predefined time, which can be prescribed as a design parameter, regardless of the interceptors' initial configurations. We provide simulations to attest to the efficacy of the proposed method.

Problem

• Leaderless cooperative guidance for simultaneous target interception
• Addressing 3D engagement complexities with kinematic constraints
• Robust time-to-go estimation under modeling uncertainties

Innovation

• Leaderless cooperative guidance for 3D engagements
• Robust time-to-go estimation with uncertainties
• Optimized lateral acceleration via affine constraints