Energy-Aware Tracking and Jamming Rogue UAVs Using a Swarm of Pursuer UAV Agents

Abstract

Over the recent years, there have been tremendous advances in the development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), that are now attracting increased interest for a number of commercial and military applications. However, usage of such autonomous vehicles over sensitive areas poses significant security and/or public safety threats. This article investigates a system that can counter such threats by utilizing a swarm of pursuer UAV agents that cooperate in tracking and jamming multiple rogue UAVs in an attempt to interfere with their operation. The proposed framework aims to select the best control actions for each UAV, in terms of joint mobility and jamming power, succeeding in optimally tracking and successfully jamming the rogue UAVs over time, while also ensuring that the power received by the pursuer UAVs remains below predefined interference levels. Additionally, the proposed framework minimizes the total energy consumption of the swarm of UAV agents (accounting for both jamming and propulsion energy consumption). The applicability and effectiveness of the proposed approach is validated through extensive simulation experiments for different pursuer-target scenarios, with UAVs utilizing both fixed- and rotary-wing technologies.