Two-on-one pursuit

Authors

• Meir Pachter, Air Force Institute of Technology
• Alexander L. Von Moll, Air Force Research Laboratory
• Eloy Garcia, Air Force Research Laboratory
• David W. Casbeer, Air Force Research Laboratory
• Dejan Milutinovic, University of California, Santa Cruz

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2019

Abstract

Pursuit and evasion have strong aerospace connotations. In surface-to-air missile (SAM) engagements, the standard procedure is to fire two SAMs to intercept a threat. It is conventional wisdom that the probability of intercept of a SAM is 𝑃𝐾=0.8 ; therefore, when two SAMs are launched, the probability of intercept is enhanced and is 𝑃𝐾=0.96 . Note, however, that it is herein tacitly assumed that the SAMs are “independent,” statistically speaking. Their effectiveness could be improved if they were cooperatively guided. Thus, in this Note, the foundational pursuit–evasion differential game in the Euclidean plane in which two pursuers 𝑃1 and 𝑃2 , cooperatively chase an evader 𝐸 is considered. The three players are holonomic, with the speeds of the pursuers each being greater than that of the evader. We are interested in point capture by either one or both: 𝑃1 and/or 𝑃2 . The payoff of 𝐸 and the cost of the 𝑃1 and 𝑃2 team is the time to capture. Thus, Isaacs’s classical “two cutters and a fugitive ship” [1] differential game is revisited.

Comments

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DOI

10.2514/1.G004068

Source Publication

Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics (ISSN 0731-5090 | eISSN 1533-3884)

Recommended Citation

Pachter, M., Von Moll, A. L., Garcia, E., Casbeer, D. W., & Milutinović, D. (2019). Two-on-one pursuit. Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 42 (7), 1638–1644. https://doi.org/10.2514/1.G004068