ESMF based multiple UAVs active cooperative observation method in relative velocity coordinates

Based on extended set-membership filter (ESMF) and the path planning method in relative velocity coordinates (RVCs), a new 3D multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems active cooperative observation method, high precision cooperative observing a moving target by proper planning the behavior of each member vehicle, is proposed. The new method combines the ESMF based cooperative observation method and the LP-based trajectory generation method in RVCs, where the ESMF based cooperative method is used to obtain the moving target's motion state which is further used as part of the cost function to plan the UAV's behavior by using the planning method in RVCs. The contribution of this paper is: (1) the computational burden of the proposed cooperative algorithm is comparable to single ESMF algorithm; (2) the high precision observation of moving target is always obtainable by considering the optimal observation condition during trajectory planning; (3) the planning algorithm in RVCs, where the trajectory planning can be modeled as a LP problem, is used to optimize the UAV's behavior, thus, in company with (Gu, et al; 2006), the fast application of the new proposed active cooperative observation method is desirable. Finally, the simulations in 3D environments are conducted to verify the feasibility and validity of the method.