Group Target Tracking for Highly Maneuverable Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Swarms: A Perspective

Sensors (Basel). 2023 May 4;23(9):4465. doi: 10.3390/s23094465.

Abstract

Group target tracking (GTT) is a promising approach for countering unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). However, the complex distribution and high mobility of UAV swarms may limit GTTs performance. To enhance GTT performance for UAV swarms, this paper proposes potential solutions. An automatic measurement partitioning method based on ordering points to identify the clustering structure (OPTICS) is suggested to handle non-uniform measurements with arbitrary contour distribution. Maneuver modeling of UAV swarms using deep learning methods is proposed to improve centroid tracking precision. Furthermore, the group's three-dimensional (3D) shape can be estimated more accurately by applying key point extraction and preset geometric models. Finally, optimized criteria are proposed to improve the spawning or combination of tracking groups. In the future, the proposed solutions will undergo rigorous derivations and be evaluated under harsh simulation conditions to assess their effectiveness.

Keywords: group target tracking; groups’ spawning and combination; maneuver modeling; measurements partitioning; shape estimation; unmanned aerial vehicles.