Multi-target localisation and circumnavigation by a multi-agent system with bearing measurements in 2D space

This paper investigates the problem of multi-target localisation and circumnavigation by a multi-agent system in two-dimensional space, where each target's bearing measurement can be obtained by at least one agent. Both stationary and slowly-moving targets are considered. An estimator is designed to estimate the target position; then a distributed estimation algorithm is designed for each agent to cooperatively estimate the centroid of multi-target; and finally, based on the first two steps, a circumnavigation controller is devised to guarantee that each agent circumnavigates all targets around the multi-target centroid with a desired radius. The convergence of the estimation algorithm and the stability of the circumnavigation controller are proved. A numerical simulation is provided to verify the correctness of the conclusion and the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.