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Tactical maneuver trajectory optimization for unmanned combat aerial vehicle using improved differential evolution

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Abstract

Autonomous air combat is an inevitable trend in the development of unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) equipment. Its purpose is to generate maneuver trajectory so that UCAVs obtain better air combat situation. Therefore, aiming to solve a tactical maneuver trajectory optimization problem for an UCAV in autonomous air combat, this paper proposed a novel method by converting the problem to an optimization problem of characteristic parameters. On the one hand, the paper analyses the tactical maneuver trajectory and combines the situation evaluation model to construct a tactical maneuver trajectory optimization function based on characteristic parameters. On the other hand, multi-population rotation strategy differential evolution (MPRDE) algorithm is designed to search for the optimal characteristic parameters. The experimental results showed that the MPRDE algorithm has outstanding performance in convergence speed, global optimization ability and robustness, and the method based on characteristic parameters could effectively and quickly represent the tactical maneuver trajectory of UCAV by using MPRDE. Meanwhile, it satisfies the real-time requirements for generating tactical manoeuvring trajectory for UCAV autonomous air combat.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61601505), the Aeronautical Science Foundation of China (20155196022) and the Shaanxi Natural Science Foundation of China (2016JQ6050).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unmanned System Research Institute, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Beilin, Xi’an, 710072, People’s Republic of China

    Hanqiao Huang & Tian Yan

  2. China Aerodynamics Research and Development Centre, Mianyang, 621000, People’s Republic of China

    Kangsheng Dong

  3. Aeronautics Engineering College, Air Force Engineering University, No. 1, Baling Road, BaQiao District, Xi’an, 710038, Shaanxi Province, People’s Republic of China

    Bo Han

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  1. Hanqiao Huang
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  2. Kangsheng Dong
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  3. Tian Yan
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  4. Bo Han
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Correspondence to Kangsheng Dong.

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Communicated by B. B. Gupta.

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Huang, H., Dong, K., Yan, T. et al. Tactical maneuver trajectory optimization for unmanned combat aerial vehicle using improved differential evolution. Soft Comput 24, 5959–5970 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-019-04522-1

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