Target Localization and Standoff Tracking With Discrete-Time Bearing-Only Measurements

Abstract

This brief presents the first solution to the target localization and standoff tracking problem based on discrete-time bearing measurements. Existing works need to either measure the bearing information continuously, or locate the target with the agent position a priori. In this brief, we propose a novel discrete-time estimation-and-control framework without using global position information of the agent. Our approach involves an estimator to estimate the relative position of the target and an estimator-based controller to force the agent to orbit around the target along the desired trajectory. Analytical results show that the agent will exponentially converge to a regular polygonal trajectory centered at the target with prescribed size. In addition, extension to moving target case is discussed and analyzed. Finally, numerical simulations are given to testify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.