Bioinspired Bearing–Based Target Enclosing Control for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Swarm

This article addresses the challenge of target enclosing with unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarm. Analyzing cooperative hunting behavior observed in animals, a bioinspired target enclosing strategy is formulated. Subsequently, a bioinspired bearing–based target enclosing control method is proposed. Initially, a bearing rigidity framework for target enclosing is designed, ensuring that the shape of the enclosing formation can be uniquely determined by bearing information. Then, bearing-based enclosing control laws applicable to static and moving targets are proposed. These laws utilize bearing information and a single distance measurement to guarantee the predetermined shape and size of the enclosing formation can be achieved. The effectiveness of the proposed control method is substantiated through the results of both numerical simulations and experimental verification.