Prescribed-Time Cooperative Guidance Law for Multi-UAV with Intermittent Communication

Networked cooperation of multi-unmanned-aerial-vehicle (UAV) is significant, but their cooperative guidance presents challenges due to weak cross-domain communication. Given the difficulties in information transmission security, this paper proposes a prescribed-time cooperative guidance law (PTCGL) for networked multiple UAVs with intermittent communication. Supported by the directed internal communication, the proposed PTCGL can ensure the simultaneous arrival in the case of the pinning external communication is time-triggered intermittent. In the first stage, PTCGL is designed to combine with a time-scaling function and second-order intermittent pinning consensus. With the desired convergence performance, the convergence time can be pre-specified independent of initial conditions and parameter tuning in theory. In the second stage, begin with the suitable initial conditions at the prescribed convergence time, the multiple UAVs are organized by proportional navigation guidance, so as to ensure the cooperation regardless of weak communication. Finally, simulations are conducted to verify the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed cooperative guidance law.