Hybrid Cooperative Reconnaissance Without Communication

The cooperative reconnaissance performance of two ve- hicles in an uncertain environment while minimizing communication is investigated. Instead of direct communication, information between vehicles is transferred using mode perturbation signatures based on Gold codes. The behavior of the observed vehicle is modelled as a hybrid system with a finite number of operating modes defined by the vehicle's dynamics and a perturbation signature. The second vehicle estimates the operating mode of the first vehicle in order to collaborate in collecting information. The performance of the system is gauged using two metrics: 1) by the length of time required for the two vehicles to collect a certain level of information, and 2) by the amount of information collected in a time interval. The follower decides whether cooperation is advantageous by evaluating one of the performance metrics. Monte Carlo simulations of the system are compared to a decentralized system in which there is no cooperation and a centralized system with full communication.