Cooperative Target Capture Using Predefined-Time Consensus

This paper presents predefined-time consensus-based cooperative guidance laws for a swarm of interceptors to simultaneously capture a non-maneuvering target. Unlike leader-follower cooperative guidance techniques, we design laws for a swarm of interceptors that has no leader and each interceptor executes its own distributed cooperative guidance command. This obviates the residency of the mission over a single interceptor. First, we present the cooperative guidance command against a stationary target, and extend the proposed design using two different approaches for simultaneous interception of a target moving with constant speed. Rigorously, we show that the proposed cooperative guidance laws guarantee consensus in the interceptors’ time-to-go values within a predefined-time. The proposed design allows a feasible time of consensus in time-to-go to be set arbitrarily at will during the design regardless of the interceptors’ initial time-to-go values, thereby ensuring a simultaneous interception in various engagement scenarios. We also demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed design via simulations.