Cooperative Guidance Laws for Flight of Multiple UAVs Using Arrival Time Control

This research paper presents a cooperative guidance framework for multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in flight to a stationary isolated target. The purpose of the proposed cooperative guidance framework is to run intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions using multiple UAVs. A cluster of regimented low-cost multiple UAVs might be more effective and efficient as compared to a single larger more expensive UAV. It is problematic to shield against a group of assailants coming in view at once, even though all entities essentially perform as one. Therefore, the multiple UAVs must reach the target simultaneously. Two main synchronized flight strategies have been presented for the cooperative guidance of multiple UAVs. First strategy makes use of an undesignated time of arrival for each UAV; the UAVs match their time of arrival via communicating with each other by decreasing their mutual variance of time-to-go. This strategy is based on classic Proportional Navigation Guidance (PNG) law where navigational constant varies with time. For the second strategy predetermined designated time of arrival is imparted to all entities at the start of the mission. Therefore, each UAV homes in on the target independently. For discrete independent homing an Arrival Time Control Guidance (ATCG) law is required. This second strategy presents a closed form ATCG solution derived from base trajectories determined by PNG using various navigation constants. Numerical simulations establish feasibility and performance of the proposed guidance framework and demonstrates that it can be easily applied without much amendment in real situations.