Visual Pursuit Guidance Strategy with Shrinking Horizon Replanning for Drones

This paper addresses the challenges of guiding a quadrotor using visual feedback to intercept fast-moving targets while considering the critical need for robust security measures in the context of rising UAV popularity and associated threats. We propose a novel guidance method that leverages Bezier Splines to enhance interception capabilities. By exploiting the continuity provided by Bezier Splines, our methodology enables informed decision-making regarding interception direction and accurate calculation of the time-to-go, accounting for the target position, velocity, and interceptor kinematic limits. The approach explicitly tackles latency in target detection and accommodates the computing limitations of small quadrotors. Implementing parallel engagement (head-on and tail-chase) with the target’s velocity vector reduces delays, addresses visual tracking challenges, and minimizes lateral acceleration during interception. This results in smaller miss distances and improved performance. The research findings align with established knowledge in guidance literature, offering significant benefits for efficient and secure quadrotor interceptions in diverse operational scenarios.