A Passive Defensive Tactic in Target‐Attacker‐Defenders Game Against Fast Attacker

ABSTRACT The target‐attacker‐defenders game (TADs) is an important topic in multi‐agent systems, concerning group cooperation and decision‐making. To effectively counter fast attackers, this study introduces a passive defensive approach, where a group of defenders position themselves around a formation point, rather than intercept the attacker actively. An evaluation model is developed to determine the optimal formation point, and a comprehensive analysis of the model is conducted, demonstrating that the formation point changes at a slower rate than the attacker, allowing the defenders to effectively track the attacker's movements. To enhance the global search capabilities, a backbone exchange mechanism is integrated into the original pigeon‐inspired optimization (PIO) algorithm. Finally, a series of comparative experiments are conducted, providing a comprehensive assessment of the defense strategy and the improved algorithm. The simulation results indicate the defenders can block the attacker with a slower speed following the proposed strategy, while the UAVs using the comparison method fail to follow the attacker, and the attacker escape the encirclement of defenders. The results prove the effectiveness of the proposed passive method in the article.