Cooperative strategy for pursuit-evasion problem in the presence of static and dynamic obstacles

Abstract

In complex and dynamic marine environments with multiple obstacles, efficient and flexible pursuit is a challenging task. This paper proposes a self-organizing cooperative pursuit strategy. First, the Apollonius circle is introduced as the final formation of the encirclement pattern, and the trajectory of the target is predicted on the basis of the least-squares method. To improve the efficiency of collision avoidance against static irregular obstacles and obtain a more reasonable collision avoidance path, we design a discretization method to describe the boundary of obstacles and combine it with the artificial potential field (APF) method. Furthermore, dynamic obstacle avoidance is considered to extend the applicability of the algorithm to a variety of obstacle environments. Compared with the common greedy algorithm, the simulation results show that in the obstacle free and static obstacle environment, the self-organizing cooperative pursuit algorithm can shorten the pursuit time and improve the movement consistency of the USVs swarm, and the obstacle avoidance route is smoother. In complex environments containing static obstacles and dynamic ships, the self-organizing cooperative pursuit algorithm can also pursuit escape targets effectively.