Achieving safe minimum circle circumnavigation around multiple targets: a dynamic compensation approach

Minimum circle circumnavigation is proposed in this paper, which is of special value in target monitoring, capturing and/or attacking. In this paper, a safe minimum circle circumnavigation of multiple targets based on bearing measurements is studied. In contrast with the traditional circumnavigation problem, with the new pattern, one agent is able to enclose multiple targets along a minimum circle with the desired enclosing distance and tangential speed. To achieve the minimum circle circumnavigation, an algorithm including dynamic compensators and a control protocol is proposed, by which collision is avoided between the agent and the multiple targets during the whole moving process. Moreover, the control protocol developed for a single agent is further extended to the scenarios of multiple agents by adding a coordination mechanism into the tangential velocity term, which drives the agents to distribute evenly on each expected circular orbit with the same radius or different radius. Simulations results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.