Multi-UAVs Tracking Non-Cooperative Target Using Constrained Iterative Linear Quadratic Gaussian

This study considers the problem of controlling multi-unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to consistently track a non-cooperative ground target with uncertain motion in a hostile environment with obstacles. An active information acquisition (AIA) problem is formulated to minimize the uncertainty of the target tracking task. The uncertain motion of the target is represented as a Wiener process. First, we optimize the configuration of the UAV swarm considering the collision avoidance, horizontal field of view (HFOV), and communication radius to calculate the reference trajectories of the UAVs. Next, a novel algorithm called Constrained Iterative Linear Quadratic Gaussian (CILQG) is introduced to track the reference trajectory. The target’s state with uncertainty and the UAV state are described as beliefs. The CILQG algorithm utilizes the Unscented Transform to propagate the belief regarding the UAVs’ motions, while also accounting for the impact of navigation errors on the target tracking process. The estimation error of the target position of the proposed method is under 4 m, and the error of tracking the reference trajectories is under 3 m. The estimation error remains unchanged even in the presence of obstacles. Therefore, this approach effectively deals with the uncertainties involved and ensures accurate tracking of the target.