Encirclement of multiple targets using model predictive control

Two teams of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are used in the encirclement of two targets at the same time. Encirclement is defined as the situation in which a target is isolated and surrounded by a group of UAVs. It is a tactic that can be employed by a team of UAVs to neutralize a target by restricting its movement due to a containment motion near the target while maintaining a formation around it. In this paper, the problem of choosing the correct target to create a dynamic circular formation is considered and a Decentralized Model Predictive Control (DMPC) policy is formulated. From simulation results the derived Model Predictive Control (MPC) policy is effective for the case of two teams of UAVs encircling two stationary targets, and two teams of UAVs encircling two moving targets. The contributions of this paper are the application of MPC to the problem of encirclement, the explicit objective of a dynamic circular formation around the target, and the ability of each team to choose its correct target.