Estimation based cooperative guidance controller for 3D target tracking with multiple UAVs

In this paper we propose an estimation based 3D cooperative guidance controller for multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in a target tracking application. The target state vector is estimated from available measurements of range, azimuth, and elevation angle provided by a ground based sensor or an on-board seeker antenna. The cooperation of the vehicles is represented by a directed graph assuming perfect communication. Additionally, the state vector of each UAV is assumed to be corrupted by measurement noise and available from their own on-board sensors, namely GPS + IMU. The estimated states of the chasers and the target are utilized in a 3D nonlinear guidance law designed based on a backstepping like technique, which provides signals for the velocity, flight path, and course/heading angle to achieve the consensus of target tracking. We present the simulation results for 3 cooperative UAVs where all UAVs successfully reach consensus (target tracking).