Real-Time Implementation of Pursuit-Evasion Games Between Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Abstract

The problem of two-player pursuit-evasion games with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in a three-dimensional environment is tackled. A game-theoretical framework is presented, enabling the solution of dynamic games in discrete time. Depending on the cardinality of the action sets, the time complexity of solving such games could rise tremendously. Therefore, a tradeoff between available actions and computational time of the solution has to be found. It was shown that the chosen action space allows manoeuvres with sufficient accuracy, assuring the convergence of the games, while the computational time of the algorithm satisfies the real-time specifications. The UAVs taking part in the pursuit-evasion games are two identical quad-rotor systems with the same dynamical constraints, while the evaders’ absolute velocity is smaller than the pursuers’. The approach was simulated on an embedded computer and successfully tested for real-time applicability. Hence, the implementation and real-time execution on a physical UAV system is feasible.