Evasive Maneuver Strategy for UCAV in Beyond-Visual-Range Air Combat Based on Hierarchical Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm

Abstract

This study deals with the autonomous evasive maneuver strategy of unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV), which is threatened by a high-performance beyond-visual-range (BVR) air-to-air missile (AAM). Considering tactical demands of achieving self-conflicting evasive objectives in actual air combat, including higher miss distance, less energy consumption and longer guidance support time, the evasive maneuver problem in BVR air combat is defined and reformulated into a multi-objective optimization problem. Effective maneuvers of UCAV used in different evasion phases are modeled in threedimensional space. Then the three-level decision space structure is established according to qualitative evasive tactical planning. A hierarchical multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (HMOEA) is designed to find the approximate Pareto-optimal solutions of the problem. The approach combines qualitative tactical experience and quantitative maneuver decision optimization method effectively. Simulations are used to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the approach. The results show that the obtained set of decision variables constitutes nondominated solutions, which can meet different evasive tactical requirements of UCAV while ensuring successful evasion.INDEX TERMS BVR air combat, evasive maneuver, hierarchical evolutionary algorithm, multi-objective optimization, UCAV.

Nondominated Maneuver Strategy Set With Tactical Requirements for a Fighter Against Missiles in a Dogfight

“…But the process of A consumes much more energy than that of B, because the throttle of A needs to maintain a high thrust. On the other hand, under the same condition of energy consumption, the miss distance obtained by B must be larger than that of A, i.e., md b > md a , as a result of larger air drag for the missile at lower altitudes [6]. Of course, there are also many cases of failed evasion, such as trajectory C in which the BF performs a plane overloading turn and is finally hit by the missile.…”

“…There is more of an emphasis on the game of space angle. Therefore, a fighter against missiles in a dogfight should use its dynamic advantage over that of the missile to perform a successful evasion rather than planned strategy [5], [6].…”

A Novel Heterogeneous Sensor-Weapon-Target Cooperative Assignment for Ground-to-Air Defense by Efficient Evolutionary Approaches

“…The weight of interception probability β ∆S = 0.5, β ∆Tgo = βq = 0.25. The performance parameters of close-range and medium-range weapon are respectively set as our previous work [35] and [36]. In each salvo, The state transition of target follows the Bernoulli distribution about the interception probability [37], which can be calculated by Equation (19).…”

Engagement Decision Support for Beyond Visual Range Air Combat

“…Many of them use game theory to model air combat [7], [8], [9], [10]. Other approaches found in the literature are as follows: Bayesian Networks [11], [12], [13], [14], fuzzy logic [15], [16], agent-based modeling [17], influence diagrams [18], reinforcement learning [19], [20], [21], [22], artificial neural networks [23], [24], evolutionary algorithms [25], [26], minimax method [27], and behavior trees [28].…”