COOPERATIVE PURSUIT NONLINEAR GUIDANCE AND CONTROL LAWS TO SURROUND INTRUDER SWARMS

In this thesis, an integrated guidance and control architecture to enable a group of n quadcopters, which are connected to each other by a rope line, to perform cooperative pursuit with the objective to surround a swarm of intruder UAVs (possibly flying in restricted airspaces) is presented. The UAVs in the intruder swarm may maneuver and sometimes get closer to each other, and sometimes further apart, and the pursuing UAVs need to adjust their formation appropriately to achieve the surround objective. A nonlinear controller is developed for the quadcopters so as to effectively execute the guidance laws, thereby ensuring precise and adaptive responses of the UAVs to the varying conditions of the intruder swarm.Extensive simulations that integrate these guidance and control laws with nonlinear quadcopter dynamics are performed on both MATLAB and ROS-Gazebo platforms. The simulation results demonstrate the efficacy of the algorithms in performing successful surrounding of the intruder swarm. The results also highlight the robustness and reliability of the proposed architecture in achieving the desired objective under various mission constraints.With the integration of nonlinear guidance with UAV dynamics and controls and their testing in advanced simulation environments, this thesis contributes to the development of advanced UAV systems capable of executing complex maneuvers in real-world applications. The findings presented in this thesis provide a strong foundation for further advancement of cooperative guidance and control strategies applied to UAVs, which possess significant implications for security and surveillance operations.