Optimal pursuit strategies for multi‐pursuer single‐evader games based on cooperative tracking

Abstract

Abstract This paper investigates a multi‐pursuer single‐evader nonzero‐sum differential game. Unlike traditional treatments, cooperative tracking is considered to design the optimal pursuit strategy by introducing a novel weighted topology and a scalar coupling gain. First, the distributed control strategy is designed based on the Hamilton–Jacobi–Isaacs (HJI) under the nonzero‐sum differential game. Then the modified LQR‐based cooperative tracking strategy is applied to achieve cooperativity among all the pursuers. The interception condition is also analyzed using a coupling gain based on the Laplacian matrix. Several illustrative examples under different scenarios are presented, and the results show that the pursuers with the proposed strategy can successfully intercept the evader.