arXiv subjects

Vishnu S. Chipade

Publications and source records attributed to Vishnu S. Chipade.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

IDCAIS: Inter-Defender Collision-Aware Interception Strategy against Multiple Attackers

In the prior literature on multi-agent area defense games, the assignments of the defenders to the attackers are done based on a cost metric associated only with the interception of the attackers. In contrast to that, this paper presents an Inter-Defender Collision-Aware Interception Strategy (IDCAIS) for defenders to intercept attackers in order to defend a protected area, such that the defender-to-attacker assignment protocol not only takes into account an interception-related cost but also takes into account any possible future collisions among the defenders on their optimal interception trajectories. In particular, in this paper, the defenders are assigned to intercept attackers using a mixed-integer quadratic program (MIQP) that: 1) minimizes the sum of times taken by defenders to capture the attackers under time-optimal control, as well as 2) helps eliminate or delay possible future collisions among the defenders on the optimal trajectories. To prevent inevitable collisions on optimal trajectories or collisions arising due to time-sub-optimal behavior by the attackers, a minimally augmented control using exponential control barrier function (ECBF) is also provided. Simulations show the efficacy of the approach.

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arXiv2025

Enabling Safety for Aerial Robots: Planning and Control Architectures

Ensuring safe autonomy is crucial for deploying aerial robots in real-world applications. However, safety is a multifaceted challenge that must be addressed from multiple perspectives, including navigation in dynamic environments, operation under resource constraints, and robustness against adversarial attacks and uncertainties. In this paper, we present the authors' recent work that tackles some of these challenges and highlights key aspects that must be considered to enhance the safety and performance of autonomous aerial systems. All presented approaches are validated through hardware experiments.

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arXiv2023

Aerial Swarm Defense using Interception and Herding Strategies

This paper presents a multi-mode solution to the problem of defending a circular protected area (target) from a wide range of attacks by swarms of risk-taking and/or risk-averse attacking agents (attackers). The proposed multi-mode solution combines two defense strategies, namely: 1) an interception strategy for a team of defenders to intercept multiple risk-taking attackers while ensuring that the defenders do not collide with each other, 2) a herding strategy to herd a swarm of risk-averse attackers to a safe area. In particular, we develop mixed integer programs (MIPs) and geometry-inspired heuristics to distribute and assign and/or reassign the defenders to interception and herding tasks under different spatiotemporal behaviors by the attackers such as splitting into smaller swarms to evade defenders easily or high-speed maneuvers by some risk-taking attackers to maximize damage to the protected area. We provide theoretical as well as numerical comparisons of the computational costs of these MIPs and the heuristics, and demonstrate the overall approach in simulations.

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arXiv2021

Herding an Adversarial Swarm in Three-dimensional Spaces

This paper presents a defense approach to safeguard a protected area against an attack by a swarm of adversarial agents in three-dimensional (3D) space. We extend our 2D `StringNet Herding' approach, in which a closed formation of string-barriers is established around the adversarial swarm to confine their motion and herd them to a safe area, to 3D spaces by introducing 3D-StringNet. 3D-StringNet is a closed 3D formation of triangular net-like barriers. We provide a systematic approach to generate three types of 3D formations that are used in the 3D herding process and modifications to the finite-time convergent control laws developed in \cite{chipade2020swarmherding} that are required for a 3D environment. Furthermore, for given initial positions of the defenders, we provide conditions on the initial positions of the attackers for which the defenders are guaranteed to gather as a specified formation at a position on the shortest path of the attackers to the protected area before attackers reach there.

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arXiv2020

Approximate Time-Optimal Trajectories for Damped Double Integrator in 2D Obstacle Environments under Bounded Inputs

This article provides extensions to existing path-velocity decomposition based time optimal trajectory planning algorithm \cite{kant1986toward} to scenarios in which agents move in 2D obstacle environment under double integrator dynamics with drag term (damped double integrator). Particularly, we extend the idea of a tangent graph \cite{liu1992path} to $\calC^1$-Tangent graph to find continuously differentiable ($\calC^1$) shortest path between any two points. $\calC^1$-Tangent graph has a continuously differentiable ($\calC^1$) path between any two nodes. We also provide analytical expressions for a near time-optimal velocity profile for an agent moving on these shortest paths under the damped double integrator with bounded acceleration.

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arXiv2020

Multi-Swarm Herding: Protecting against Adversarial Swarms

This paper studies a defense approach against one or more swarms of adversarial agents. In our earlier work, we employ a closed formation (`StringNet') of defending agents (defenders) around a swarm of adversarial agents (attackers) to confine their motion within given bounds, and guide them to a safe area. The control design relies on the assumption that the adversarial agents remain close enough to each other, i.e., within a prescribed connectivity region. To handle situations when the attackers no longer stay within such a connectivity region, but rather split into smaller swarms (clusters) to maximize the chance or impact of attack, this paper proposes an approach to learn the attacking sub-swarms and reassign defenders towards the attackers. We use a `Density-based Spatial Clustering of Application with Noise (DBSCAN)' algorithm to identify the spatially distributed swarms of the attackers. Then, the defenders are assigned to each identified swarm of attackers by solving a constrained generalized assignment problem. Simulations are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach.

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arXiv2019

Herding an Adversarial Swarm in an Obstacle Environment

This paper studies a defense approach against a swarm of adversarial agents. We employ a closed formation (`StringNet') of defending agents around the adversarial agents to restrict their motion and guide them to a safe area while navigating in an obstacle-populated environment. Control laws for forming the StringNet and guiding it to a safe area are developed, and the stability of the closed-loop system is analyzed formally. The adversarial swarm is assumed to move as a flock in the presence of rectangular obstacles. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the efficacy of the approach.

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arXiv2018

Systematic design methodology for development and flight testing of a variable pitch quadrotor biplane VTOL UAV for payload delivery

This paper discusses the conceptual design and proof-of-concept flight demonstration of a novel variable pitch quadrotor biplane Unmanned Aerial Vehicle concept for payload delivery. The proposed design combines vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL), precise hover capabilities of a quadrotor helicopter and high range, endurance and high forward cruise speed characteristics of a fixed wing aircraft. The proposed UAV is designed for a mission requirement of carrying and delivering 6 kg payload to a destination at 16 km from the point of origin. First, the design of proprotors is carried out using a physics based modified Blade Element Momentum Theory (BEMT) analysis, which is validated using experimental data generated for the purpose. Proprotors have conflicting requirement for optimal hover and forward flight performance. Next, the biplane wings are designed using simple lifting line theory. The airframe design is followed by power plant selection and transmission design. Finally, weight estimation is carried out to complete the design process. The proprotor design with 24 deg preset angle and -24 deg twist is designed based on 70% weightage to forward flight and 30% weightage to hovering flight conditions. The operating RPM of the proprotors is reduced from 3200 during hover to 2000 during forward flight to ensure optimal performance during cruise flight. The estimated power consumption during forward flight mode is 64% less than that required for hover, establishing the benefit of this hybrid concept. A proof-of-concept scaled prototype is fabricated using commercial-off-the-shelf parts. A PID controller is developed and implemented on the PixHawk board to enable stable hovering flight and attitude tracking.

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