Low overload ratio multi-missile self-organizing cooperative fencing and attack method

This study investigates the self-organizing fencing and attack problem to address the limitations of single-missile strike capabilities in meeting regional security demands. Given the constraints of wartime environments, the control law relies solely on relative measurements between the missiles and the target, ensuring that the cooperative fencing control law remains distributed and suitable for GPS-denied environments. To prevent collisions before striking the target, the system enforces safe spacing between the missiles. Additionally, the overload ratio, representing the maneuverability ratio between the missiles and the target, remains relatively low during all phases. This approach enables military operations to select missiles with appropriate maneuverability to effectively fence and attack targets in real-world conflicts.

Drawing inspiration from the self-organizing behaviors of biological swarms, three behaviors—target tracking, collision avoidance, and velocity alignment—was integrated into the missile control law to establish a self-organizing fencing formation. The target-tracking behavior employed linear sliding mode control, with modifications that enabled the fencing of a target with unknown maneuverability. The sliding manifold was defined as a linear manifold and was rigorously analyzed to ensure bounded positions and velocities. Collision avoidance was achieved through a repulsion term that increases as the sliding mode variable distance between two missiles grows. The velocity alignment behavior was incorporated as a linear damping term in the control law to regulate missile velocities. Futhermore, a detailed analysis of the upper bound of the overload ratio was conducted by considering initial conditions, control parameters, and velocity constraints.

The simulations demonstrate that the proposed algorithm enables multiple missiles to execute a low-overload-ratio coordinated fencing and attacking strategy against unknown maneuvering targets. During the fencing phase, the system maintains safe spacing between missiles. In the attack phase, it effectively removes the repulsion term, allowing the missiles to close in rapidly and strike the target. The analysis further confirms that the algorithm estimates the maximum overload ratio based on the initial conditions, providing a practical framework for less agile missile systems.

This research highlights the potential of bio-inspired, sliding mode control-based algorithms to improve multi-missile coordination in modern security contexts. By achieving effective target fencing with a low overload ratio, the proposed method offers a cost-effective and technically viable solution for enhancing strike capabilities. The ability to form an appropriate formation around the target while maintaining safe distances between missiles paves the way for further advancements in cooperative missile technologies.