Aerial Combat Tactics In Overwhelming Numbers

摘要

This paper describes research performed in pursuit of autonomous swarm tactics for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as part of an internally funded effort at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). Human engineered swarming tactics, reinforcement learned tactics, and aggressive flight maneuvers are explored. Aggressive flight maneuvers included autonomous descents, rolls, and an Immelmann maneuver. These efforts expand on preliminary control capabilities and are intended to enable groups of UAVs to act as a defensive swarm to counter aggressor swarms. All tactics have been validated in simulation using the GTRI-developed SCRIMMAGE [1], [2] simulation engine and were further proven in live-fly experiments throughout the duration of the ACTION effort, which ran from 2017-2019.