Model Predictive Control for the dynamic encirclement of a target

Encirclement is a tactic that can be employed by a team of UAVs to neutralize a target by restricting its movement. The aim of the UAV team encircling the target is to move close to the target and maintain a formation around the target. In this paper, the problem of creating a dynamic circular formation around a target is considered, and a Decentralized Model Predictive Control (DMPC) policy is formulated. It is shown through simulation results that the derived MPC policy is effective for the case of a single UAV encircling a stationary target, a single UAV encircling a moving target, and a group of UAVs encircling a stationary target. The contributions of this paper are the application of MPC to the problem of encirclement, and the explicit objective of a dynamic circular formation around the target.