Autonomous Maneuver Decisions via Transfer Learning Pigeon-Inspired Optimization for UCAVs in Dogfight Engagements

This paper proposes an autonomous maneuver decision method using transfer learning pigeon-inspired optimization (TLPIO) for unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) in dogfight engagements. Firstly, a nonlinear F-16 aircraft model and automatic control system are constructed by a MATLAB/Simulink platform. Secondly, a 3-degrees-of-freedom (3-DOF) aircraft model is used as a maneuvering command generator, and the expanded elemental maneuver library is designed, so that the aircraft state reachable set can be obtained. Then, the game matrix is composed with the air combat situation evaluation function calculated according to the angle and range threats. Finally, a key point is that the objective function to be optimized is designed using the game mixed strategy, and the optimal mixed strategy is obtained by TLPIO. Significantly, the proposed TLPIO does not initialize the population randomly, but adopts the transfer learning method based on Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence to initialize the population, which improves the search accuracy of the optimization algorithm. Besides, the convergence and time complexity of TLPIO are discussed. Comparison analysis with other classical optimization algorithms highlights the advantage of TLPIO. In the simulation of air combat, three initial scenarios are set, namely, opposite, offensive and defensive conditions. The effectiveness performance of the proposed autonomous maneuver decision method is verified by simulation results.