Coordinated UAV Standoff Tracking of Moving Target Based on Lyapunov Vector Fields

Abstract

This paper proposes an approach to cooperative tracking of a moving target using a system of multiple fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). In this scenario, the task is to coordinate a UAV group so that it could follow a moving circular path while keeping specified (and not necessarily identical) spacing. Many papers dwell upon path following problems for UAV formations; solutions they propose include Lyapunov vector fields. This article particularly uses a different method that revolves around a decentralized guidance Lyapunov vector field for path following; this field is non-uniform in both direction and magnitude. The advantage of proposed strategy lies in the global asymptotic stability it provides, which helps not only create a UAV formation around the target faster, but also keep it stable shall the formation fail to precisely follow its specified orbit. We analyzed the consensus-based coordination architecture in the form of a decentralized open chain. For space considerations, this paper only describes a target moving at a constant speed. MATLAB/Simulink modeling based on complete non-linear flying-wing UAV models shows that the proposed approach efficient.