Ship Defense Strategy Using a Planar Grid Formation of Multiple Drones

This article introduces a ship defense strategy using a planar grid formation of multiple drones. We handle a scenario where a high-speed target with variable velocity heads towards the ship. The ship measures the position of the target in real time. Based on the measured target, the drones guidance laws are calculated by the ships on-board computer and are sent to every drone in real time. The drones form a planar grid formation, whose center blocks the Line-Of-Sight (LOS) line connecting the target and the ship. Since the target is guided to hit its goal (ship), the drones can effectively block the target by blocking the LOS line. We enable slow drones to capture a fast target by making the drones stay close to the ship while blocking the LOS at all times. By using a grid formation of drones, we can increase the capture rate, even when there exists error in the prediction of the target’s position. To the best of our knowledge, this article is unique in using a formation of multiple drones to intercept a fast target with variable velocity. Through MATLAB simulations, the effectiveness of our multi-agent guidance law is verified by comparing it with other state-of-the-art guidance controls.