Model Predictive Control-Based Guidance with Impact Angle Constraints for Visual Quadrotor Interception

With the increase in the popularity of commercial/military drones, anti-drone systems are needed to prevent them from being used for unauthorized purposes. One of the anti-drone methods, especially for urban environments, is the engagement of drones with other drones. This paper focuses on the visual quadrotor interception problem, which solution requires impact angle constraints due to keeping the target visually within the camera frame requirement. Moreover, parallel interceptions (toward the head or back) provide robustness to inevitable visual processing latency compared to lateral engagements. By addressing these issues, the proposed methodology mainly utilizes Model Predictive Control (MPC) method with added terminal constraints to satisfy engagement at the desired angle. While formulating the MPC, the objective function in the MPC is modified to reduce the interceptor's requirement for maneuvering at the end of the trajectory. MPC prediction horizon is calculated by considering vehicle limits to satisfy the feasibility of the problem. We have assessed the performance of the proposed guidance methodology for numerous scenarios with both maneuvering and non-maneuvering targets. With the proposed guidance method, engagement is made at desired impact angle along with less maneuvering requirement at the end of the interception.