Abstract
A cooperative tracking scheme is presented in this paper for multiple fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to track an uncooperative, moving target. It is comprised of a target loitering algorithm and a formation flight algorithm. The loitering algorithm enables a constant speed UAV to circle around a moving target, whose speed is allowed to vary up to the UAV’s speed. The formation algorithm enables cooperative tracking using multiple UAVs by keeping them flying in a circular formation with equal inter-vehicle angular separation. Under this formation algorithm, the formation center can be controlled independently to perform target loitering, and the admissible range of the target’s speed would not be affected for given UAVs. The performance of the proposed tracking system is verified in numerical simulations.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Sarris, Z.: Survey of UAV applications in civil markets (2001). In: The 9th IEEE Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation (MED ’01), Croatia (2001)
Elston, J., Frew, E.W.: Hierarchical distributed control for search and tracking by heterogeneous aerial robot networks. In: 2008 IEEE Internation Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 19–23, CA, USA (2008)
Frew, E.W., Lawrence, D.A., Morris, S.: Coordinated standoff tracking of moving targets using Lyapunov guidance vector fields. J. Guid., Control Dyn. 31(2), 290–306 (2008)
Summers, T.H., Akella, M.R., Mears, M.J.: Coordinated standoff tracking of moving target: Control laws and information architectures. J. Guid., Control Dyn. 32(1), 56–69 (2009)
Lim, S., Kim, Y., Lee, D., Bang, H.: Standoff target tracking using a vector field for multiple unmanned aircrafts. J. Intell. Robot. Syst. 69(1-4), 347–360 (2012)
Lee, J., Huang, R., Vaughn, A., Xiao, X., Karl Hedrick, J., Zennaro, M., Sengupta, R.: Strategies of path-planning for a UAV to track a ground vehicle. In: The Second Annual Symposium on Autonomous Intelligent Networks and Systems, CA, USA (2003)
Dobrokhodov, V.N., Kaminer, I.I., Jones, K.D.: Vision-based tracking and motion estimation for moving targets using unmanned air vehicles, vol. 31, pp. 907–917 (2008)
Ponda, S., Kolacinski, R., Frazzoli, E.: Trajectory optimization for target localization using small unmanned aerial vehicles. In: AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, Chicago, Illinois (2009)
Spry, S.C., Giard, A.R., vehicles, J., Hedrick, K.: Convoy protection using multiple unmanned aerial vehicles: Organization and coordination. In: 2005 American Control Conference, pp. 3524–3529, OR, USA (2005)
Zhang, M., Liu, H.H.T.: Vision-based tracking and estimation of ground moving target using unmanned aerial vehicle. In: 2010 American Control Conference, MD, USA (2010)
Oliveira, T., Encarnação, P.: Ground target tracking for unmanned aerial vehicles. In: AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (2010)
Xiaowei, F., Feng, H., Gao, X.: UAV mobile ground target pursuit algorithm. J. Intell. Robot. Syst. 68, 359–371 (2012)
Zhang, M., Liu, H.H.T.: Persistent tracking using unmanned aerial vehicle: A game theory method. In: AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, Portland, Oregon (2011)
Zhang, M., Liu, H.H.T.: Game-theoretical persistent tracking of a moving target using a unicycle-type mobile vehicle. IEEE Trans. Industrial Electronics 61(11), 6222–6233 (2014)
Kim, S., Ohy, H., Tsourdos, A.: Nonlinear model predictive coordinated standoff tracking of moving ground vehicle. In: AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, Portland, Oregon, August 8–11 2011. AIAA 2011–6312
Zhang, M., Liu, H.H.T.: Moving target tracking by unmanned aerial vehicle: A model predictive control method. In: Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute AERO’11 Conference, pp. 26–28, Quebec, Canada (2011)
Martínez, S., Bullo, F.: Optimal sensor placement and motion coordination for target tracking. Automatica 42(4), 661–668 (2006)
Zhang, M., Liu, H.H.T.: Vision-based estimation of ground moving target by multiple unmanned aerial vehicles. In: 2012 American Control Conference, pp. 27–29, Quebec, Canada (2012)
Hyondong, O., Kim, S., Tsourdos, A., White, B.A.: Decentralised standoff tracking of moving targets using adaptive sliding mode control for UAVs. J. Intell. Robot. Syst. 76, 169–183 (2014)
Kingston, D., Beard, R.: UAV splay state configuration for moving targets in wind. In: Advances in Cooperative Control and Optimization, pp. 109–128. Springer (2007)
Zhang, M., Liu, H.H.T.: Aerodynamics and flight control of flying-wing unmanned aerial vehicles. In: Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute Aero’13 Conference, Ontario Canada (2013)
Ren, W., Beard, R.W.: Trajectory tracking for unmanned air vehicles with velocity and heading rate constraints. IEEE Trans. Control Syst. Technol. 12(5), 706–716 (2004)
Khalil, H.K.: Nonlinear systems, 3rd. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ (2002)
Bethke, B., Valenti, M., How, J.: Cooperative vision based estimation and tracking using multiple UAVs. In: Proceedings of the Conference on Coopetative Control and Optimization, Gainesville, FL (2007)
Campbell, M.E., Whitacre, W.W.: Cooperative tracking using vision measurements on SeaScan UAVs. IEEE Trans. Control Syst. Technol. 15(4), 613–626 (2007)
Ridley, M., Nettleton, E., Göktogan, A., Brooker, G., Sukkarieh, S., Durrant-Whyte, H.F.: Decentralised ground target tracking with heterogeneous sensing nodes on multiple UAVs. In: Information processing in sensor networks, pp. 545–565. Springer (2003)
Olfati-Saber, R., Alex Fax, J., Murray, R.M.: Consensus and cooperation in networked multi-agent systems. IEEE Proc. 95(1), 215–233 (2007)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhang, M., T. Liu, H.H. Cooperative Tracking a Moving Target Using Multiple Fixed-wing UAVs. J Intell Robot Syst 81, 505–529 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-015-0236-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-015-0236-9