Multi-circular formation control with reinforced transient profiles for nonholonomic vehicles:A path-following framework

This article investigates a multi-circular path-following formation control with reinforced transient profiles for nonholonomic vehicles connected by a digraph.A multi-circular formation controller endowed with the feature of spatial-temporal decoupling is devised for a group of vehicles guided by a virtual leader evolving along an implicit path,which allows for a circumnavigation on multiple circles with an anticipant angular spacing.In addition,notice that it typically imposes a stringent time constraint on time-sensitive enclosing scenarios,hence an improved prescribed performance control(IPPC)using novel tighter behavior boundaries is presented to enhance transient capabilities with an ensured appointed-time convergence free from any overshoots.The significant merits are that coordinated circumnavigation along different circles can be realized via executing geometric and dynamic assignments independently with modified transient profiles.Furthermore,all variables existing in the entire system are analyzed to be convergent.Simulation and experimental results are provided to validate the utility of suggested solution.

Formation and adjustment of manned/unmanned combat aerial vehicle cooperative engagement system

Manned combat aerial vehicles （MCAVs）, and un-manned combat aerial vehicles （UCAVs） together form a cooper-ative engagement system to carry out operational mission, whichwill be a new air engagement style in the near future. On the basisof analyzing the structure of the MCAV/UCAV cooperative engage-ment system, this paper divides the unique system into three hi-erarchical levels, respectively, i.e., mission level, task-cluster leveland task level. To solve the formation and adjustment problem ofthe latter two levels, three corresponding mathematical modelsare established. To solve these models, three algorithms calledquantum artificial bee colony （QABC） algorithm, greedy strategy（GS） and two-stage greedy strategy （TSGS） are proposed. Finally,a series of simulation experiments are designed to verify the effec-tiveness and superiority of the proposed algorithms.

Optimal Formation Reconfiguration Control of Multiple UCAVs Using Improved Particle Swarm Optimization

Optimal formation reconfiguration control of multiple Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicles （UCAVs） is a complicated global optimum problem. Particle Swarm Optimization （PSO） is a population based stochastic optimization technique inspired by social behaviour of bird flocking or fish schooling. PSO can achieve better results in a faster, cheaper way compared with other bio-inspired computational methods, and there are few parameters to adjust in PSO. In this paper, we propose an improved PSO model for solving the optimal formation reconfiguration control problem for multiple UCAVs. Firstly, the Control Parameterization and Time Diseretization （CPTD） method is designed in detail. Then, the mutation strategy and a special mutation-escape operator are adopted in the improved PSO model to make particles explore the search space more efficiently. The proposed strategy can produce a large speed value dynamically according to the variation of the speed, which makes the algorithm explore the local and global minima thoroughly at the same time. Series experimental results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method in solving the optimal formation reconfiguration control problem for multiple UCAVs.

Threat sequencing of multiple UCAVs with incomplete information based on game theory

The threat sequencing of multiple unmanned combat air vehicles(UCAVs) is a multi-attribute decision-making(MADM)problem. In the threat sequencing process of multiple UCAVs,due to the strong confrontation and high dynamics of the air combat environment, the weight coefficients of the threat indicators are usually time-varying. Moreover, the air combat data is difficult to be obtained accurately. In this study, a threat sequencing method of multiple UCAVs is proposed based on game theory by considering the incomplete information. Firstly, a zero-sum game model of decision maker( D) and nature(N)with fuzzy payoffs is established to obtain the uncertain parameters which are the weight coefficient parameters of the threat indicators and the interval parameters of the threat matrix. Then,the established zero-sum game with fuzzy payoffs is transformed into a zero-sum game with crisp payoffs(matrix game) to solve. Moreover, a decision rule is addressed for the threat sequencing problem of multiple UCAVs based on the obtained uncertain parameters. Finally, numerical simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Event-triggered leader-following formation control for multi-agent systems under communication faults: application to a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles

The main contribution of this paper is the design of an event-triggered formation control for leader-following consensus in second-order multi-agent systems(MASs)under communication faults.All the agents must follow the trajectories of a virtual leader despite communication faults considered as smooth time-varying delays dependent on the distance between the agents.Linear matrix inequalities(LMIs)-based conditions are obtained to synthesize a controller gain that guarantees stability of the synchronization error.Based on the closed-loop system,an event-triggered mechanism is designed to reduce the control law update and information exchange in order to reduce energy consumption.The proposed approach is implemented in a real platform of a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs)under communication faults.A comparison between a state-of-the-art technique and the proposed technique has been provided,demonstrating the performance improvement brought by the proposed approach.

Finite-time control of formation system for multiple flight vehicles subject to actuator saturation

This paper investigates the problem of formation tracking control for multiple flight vehicle(MFV) system considering actuator saturation constraints. First, the formation tracking control model is established. Then, the problem of formation control of the MFV system is converted to the convergence of a dynamical system, which is obtained by using the differential geometry theory.A class of saturation functions is introduced, and on this basis a second-order finite-time formation control protocol is developed.With the help of the homogeneous theory and Lasalle's invariance principle, it is theoretically proved that the designed formation protocol could complete the formation task in finite time, and the control inputs are shown to remain within their available actuating limits. Finally, simulations are performed to verify the effectiveness of the scheme.

Communication-Aware Formation Control of AUVs With Model Uncertainty and Fading Channel via Integral Reinforcement Learning

Most formation approaches of autonomous underwater vehicles(AUVs)focus on the control techniques,ignoring the influence of underwater channel.This paper is concerned with a communication-aware formation issue for AUVs,subject to model uncertainty and fading channel.An integral reinforcement learning(IRL)based estimator is designed to calculate the probabilistic channel parameters,wherein the multivariate probabilistic collocation method with orthogonal fractional factorial design(M-PCM-OFFD)is employed to evaluate the uncertain channel measurements.With the estimated signal-to-noise ratio(SNR),we employ the IRL and M-PCM-OFFD to develop a saturated formation controller for AUVs,dealing with uncertain dynamics and current parameters.For the proposed formation approach,an integrated optimization solution is presented to make a balance between formation stability and communication efficiency.Main innovations lie in three aspects:1)Construct an integrated communication and control optimization framework;2)Design an IRL-based channel prediction estimator;3)Develop an IRL-based formation controller with M-PCM-OFFD.Finally,simulation results show that the formation approach can avoid local optimum estimation,improve the channel efficiency,and relax the dependence of AUV model parameters.

Fault Tolerant Control Scheme Design for Formation Flight Control System of Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

The command tracking problem of formation flight control system(FFCS)for multiple unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs)with sensor faults is discussed.And the objective of the addressed control problem is to design a robust fault tolerant tracking controller such that,for the disturbances and sensor faults,the closed-loop system is asymptotically stable with a given disturbance attenuation level.A robust fault tolerant tracking control scheme,combining an observer with H∞ performance,is proposed.Furthermore,it is proved that the designed controller can guarantee asymptotic stability of FFCS despite sensor faults.Finally,a simulation of two UAV formations is employed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

A Novel Obstacle Avoidance Consensus Control for Multi-AUV Formation System

In this paper, the fixed-time event-triggered obstacle avoidance consensus control for a multi-AUV time-varying formation system in a 3D environment is presented by using an improved artificial potential field and leader-follower strategy(IAPF-LF). Firstly, the proposed fixed-time control can achieve the desired multi-AUV formation within a fixed settling time in any initial system state. Secondly, an event-triggered communication strategy is developed to govern the communication among AUVs, and the communication energy consumption can be decremented. The time-varying formation obstacle avoidance control algorithm based on IAPF-LF is designed to avoid static and dynamic obstacles, the desired formation is maintained in the presence of external disturbances, and there is no Zeno behavior under the fixed-time event-triggered consensus control strategy.The stability of the system is proved by the Lyapunov function and inequality scaling. Finally, simulation examples and water pool experiments are reported to verify the performance of the proposed theoretical algorithms.

UCAV situation assessment method based on C-LSHADE-Means and SAE-LVQ

The unmanned combat aerial vehicle(UCAV)is a research hot issue in the world,and the situation assessment is an important part of it.To overcome shortcomings of the existing situation assessment methods,such as low accuracy and strong dependence on prior knowledge,a datadriven situation assessment method is proposed.The clustering and classification are combined,the former is used to mine situational knowledge,and the latter is used to realize rapid assessment.Angle evaluation factor and distance evaluation factor are proposed to transform multi-dimensional air combat information into two-dimensional features.A convolution success-history based adaptive differential evolution with linear population size reduc-tion-means(C-LSHADE-Means)algorithm is proposed.The convolutional pooling layer is used to compress the size of data and preserve the distribution characteristics.The LSHADE algorithm is used to initialize the center of the mean clustering,which over-comes the defect of initialization sensitivity.Comparing experi-ment with the seven clustering algorithms is done on the UCI data set,through four clustering indexes,and it proves that the method proposed in this paper has better clustering performance.A situation assessment model based on stacked autoen-coder and learning vector quantization(SAE-LVQ)network is constructed,and it uses SAE to reconstruct air combat data fea-tures,and uses the self-competition layer of the LVQ to achieve efficient classification.Compared with the five kinds of assess-ments models,the SAE-LVQ model has the highest accuracy.Finally,three kinds of confrontation processes from air combat maneuvering instrumentation(ACMI)are selected,and the model in this paper is used for situation assessment.The assessment results are in line with the actual situation.

Nonlinear tight formation control of multiple UAVs based on model predictive control

A tight formation of unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs) has many advantages, such as fuel saving and deceiving enemy radar during battlefield entry. As a result, research on UAVs in close formation has received much attention, and the controller design for formation holding has become a popular research topic in the control field. However, there are many unknown disturbances in tight formation, and the tail aircraft is disturbed by the wake. This paper establishes a mathematical model of wake vortices for tail aircraft that considers uncertainty and strong interference. Two UAVs are simulated by Computational Fluid Dynamics software, followed by the design of a semiphysical simulation model predictive control(MPC) scheme that suppresses uncertainty and interference sufficiently to enable the tail aircraft to accurately track the lead aircraft and maintain a stable, tight formation. The tight formation controller is verified by numerical simulation and semiphysical simulation. The results show that the designed controller has an excellent control effect in the case of disturbance caused by the wake vortex.

Nonlinear direct data-driven control for UAV formation flight system

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 closedloop 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.

基于分组教与学的无人战斗机自适应路径规划

针对无人战斗机(unmanned combat air vehicle,UCAV)处于存在威胁区域的战场中路径规划问题,提出一种基于分组教与学算法的UCAV自适应路径规划方法。通过分析UCAV路径评价指标,提出一种自适应的UCAV路径评价模型,根据作战环境规划出距离短、威胁小的任务路径。针对教与学算法寻优精度低、耗时长的问题,提出一种分组教与学算法,引入动态分组和高斯分布扰动策略,提高算法寻优性能。通过仿真实验,该方案求解的最优路径更短且安全。

基于图和流体扰动算法的多无人车编队及避障研究

为解决多无人车编队在存在运动目标、移动威胁与突发威胁等多种情况的复杂环境中的避障问题,设计了一种基于刚性图论和流体扰动算法的多无人车编队避障控制算法。首先,针对编队控制问题,采用图论方法描述多无人车之间的协同关系,利用无人车之间的距离约束,基于反步控制理论设计领航-跟随编队控制器。李雅普诺夫分析表明,期望的编队形状是渐近稳定的。其次,针对复杂动态障碍物环境下的编队避障问题,设计了基于流体扰动算法的避障路径规划方法,由领航无人车规划出编队的行驶路径,实现编队的整体避障。最后,基于MATLAB的仿真结果验证了所提算法的有效性。

面向海流扰动和通信时延的欠驱动AUV编队跟踪控制

由欠驱动自主水下航行器(Autonomous Underwater Vehicle,AUV)编队组成的水下探测阵列具有响应快、机动性好、智能化程度高的特点。针对无速度信息传输的多AUV在海流和时延复合扰动下的编队控制问题,提出一种虚拟轨迹、轨迹预测、自适应反演滑模控制技术相结合的编队控制方法。使用领航者的位置信息和期望队形得到跟随者的参考轨迹,并引入虚拟轨迹使其与跟随者参考轨迹有限时间重合,从而得到跟随者的期望位置和速度。在此基础上,使用最小二乘法拟合轨迹曲线进行时延补偿,并通过自适应反演滑模控制技术完成海流干扰下的编队轨迹跟踪。理论分析和仿真结果表明,新方法具有可行性和有效性。

自适应量化神经网络滑模无人船编队控制

针对复杂海洋环境下欠驱动水面无人船(unmanned surface vehicle,USV)编队控制存在的模型不确定性、参数摄动、控制输入量化等问题,提出一种自适应量化神经网络滑模控制算法。在USV运动学子系统中,设计基于内外环控制策略的制导律,解决USV欠驱动问题。由于所采用的动力学模型中含有未知项和外界环境干扰,故在USV动力学子系统中通过使用径向基函数神经网络实现对干扰的估计。采用一种线性解析模型来描述输入量化过程。所设计的控制系统不需要量化参数的先验信息。基于输入-状态稳定性理论证明了系统稳定性。通过仿真实验验证了所提算法的有效性。

基于自抗扰方法的无人机控制律设计

针对多平台、多任务的无人机飞行控制律的快速开发问题,提出一种基于自抗扰方法的无人机控制律架构,设计了可复用的扩展状态观测器及微分跟踪器,研究对比了其在3种具有较大差异的无人机平台中的应用,使7 000 kg的超音速UAV_A获得了更优的敏捷性结果,在60 kg的缩比UAV_B完成了5.8g的半滚倒转大过载机动飞行试验,基于10 kg的平直翼UAV_C实现了12架机紧编队的精确轨迹控制飞行试验。仿真及试飞结果表明:所提自抗扰控制结构响应快速、控制精度高、鲁棒性强,能够较好地适应多类无人机、面向多种任务场景的控制需求,且不需调参就能够获得较好的控制效果,为飞行控制算法设计提供了新的技术途径。

未知扰动下的无人艇编队优化轨迹跟踪控制

[目的]针对水面无人艇(USV)编队轨迹跟踪中存在的未知扰动和队形变化问题,提出一种基于有限时间扰动观测器的最优反步控制(FDO-OBC)方法。[方法]首先,基于虚拟结构法,建立无人艇编队控制框架,并设计运动学和动力学编队控制器;其次,设计有限时间扰动观测器,实时估计补偿未知环境扰动;然后,针对编队队形变化的轨迹跟踪问题,提出基于最优反步控制的动态轨迹优化策略,利用扰动观测器信息来计算最优控制输入,实现无人艇编队轨迹跟踪的动态优化;最后,采用李雅普诺夫稳定性理论证明该编队控制方法的稳定性。[结果]仿真对比结果表明,FDO-OBC策略可有效提高无人艇编队系统的精确性和鲁棒性。[结论]对于面向扰动环境下的无人艇编队控制系统设计,FDO-OBC方法提供了一种新的技术手段。

基于整数规划的多UCAV任务分配问题研究

在深入分析多UCAV任务分配问题的特点的基础上,提出了求解多UCAV协同任务分配的整数规划方法.通过设计决策变量和灵活地对各种约束条件形式化,建立了多UCAV任务分配问题的形式化模型.并以典型的UCAV任务SEAD为想定,进行了仿真验证与分析.仿真结果表明该模型可以较好地解决多UCAV协同作战的任务分配问题.*

有人机/UCAV编队对地攻击指挥控制系统总体研究

有人机/UCAV编队对地攻击是网络战环境下一种全新概念的作战模式,其指挥控制是支配作战活动的关键环节。对有人机/UCAV编队指挥控制系统总体进行了研究,构造了指挥控制系统层次模型,给出了每个层次的工作流程,提出了有限中央控制的分布式指挥控制系统体系结构和基于Agent的有人机/UCAV编队指挥控制系统人机协同机制,构建了UCAV C2-Agent混合型结构,最后对指挥控制系统的关键技术进行了分析。