Safety-Critical Input-Constrained Nonlinear Intercept Guidance in Multiple Engagement Zones

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ranjan, Praveen Kumar, Sinha, Abhinav, Cao, Yongcan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866915522387378176
author Ranjan, Praveen Kumar
Sinha, Abhinav
Cao, Yongcan
author_facet Ranjan, Praveen Kumar
Sinha, Abhinav
Cao, Yongcan
contents This paper presents an input-constrained nonlinear guidance law to address the problem of intercepting a stationary target in contested environments with multiple defending agents. Contrary to prior approaches that rely on explicit knowledge of defender strategies or utilize conservative safety conditions based on a defender's range, our work characterizes defender threats geometrically through engagement zones that delineate inevitable interception regions. Outside these engagement zones, the interceptor remains invulnerable. The proposed guidance law switches between a repulsive safety maneuver near these zones and a pursuit maneuver outside their influence. To deal with multiple engagement zones, we employ a smooth minimum function (log-sum-exponent approximation) that aggregates threats from all the zones while prioritizing the most critical threats. Input saturation is modeled and embedded in the non-holonomic vehicle dynamics so the controller respects actuator limits while maintaining stability. Numerical simulations with several defenders demonstrate the proposed method's ability to avoid engagement zones and achieve interception across diverse initial conditions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_25053
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Safety-Critical Input-Constrained Nonlinear Intercept Guidance in Multiple Engagement Zones
Ranjan, Praveen Kumar
Sinha, Abhinav
Cao, Yongcan
Systems and Control
Multiagent Systems
Robotics
Dynamical Systems
This paper presents an input-constrained nonlinear guidance law to address the problem of intercepting a stationary target in contested environments with multiple defending agents. Contrary to prior approaches that rely on explicit knowledge of defender strategies or utilize conservative safety conditions based on a defender's range, our work characterizes defender threats geometrically through engagement zones that delineate inevitable interception regions. Outside these engagement zones, the interceptor remains invulnerable. The proposed guidance law switches between a repulsive safety maneuver near these zones and a pursuit maneuver outside their influence. To deal with multiple engagement zones, we employ a smooth minimum function (log-sum-exponent approximation) that aggregates threats from all the zones while prioritizing the most critical threats. Input saturation is modeled and embedded in the non-holonomic vehicle dynamics so the controller respects actuator limits while maintaining stability. Numerical simulations with several defenders demonstrate the proposed method's ability to avoid engagement zones and achieve interception across diverse initial conditions.
title Safety-Critical Input-Constrained Nonlinear Intercept Guidance in Multiple Engagement Zones
topic Systems and Control
Multiagent Systems
Robotics
Dynamical Systems
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.25053