Dual-Channel Induced Countermeasure Strategy for Formation Control of Distributed UAV Swarms with Prescribed Flight Trajectory

For malicious distributed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarms operating in civilian airspace, this paper proposes a novel dual-channel induced countermeasure strategy (DCICS) with prescribed countermeasure flight trajectories, in which the designable countermeasure signals are injected into the sensor–controller (SC) channel and the controller–actuator (CA) channel of partial or all UAVs, simultaneously. Firstly, we establish a dual-channel induced countermeasure protocol, in which the sensor-induced countermeasure signal is modeled as a continuous function of swarm dynamics, whereas the actuator-induced countermeasure signal is generated through a countermeasure signal generation exosystem (CSGES). Then, we derive a closed-form expression of the countermeasure flight trajectory, explicitly characterizing the effect of the countermeasure signals on the swarm motion. Furthermore, a necessary and sufficient condition for the feasibility of the DCICS is derived. By introducing adjustable performance factors, we construct a robust H∞ framework and provide the design criteria for the dual-channel induced countermeasure signals accordingly. The proposed strategy can drive the formation of the distributed UAV swarm along a prescribed countermeasure flight trajectory while maintaining the original formation structure. Finally, we present numerical simulation examples to validate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.