A Multi-Agent-Based Defense System Design for Multiple Unmanned Surface Vehicles

Abstract

Defense systems are usually deployed to protect high-value targets or hot spots that are integral parts of the modern battlefield environment. However, in coastal defense operations (due to the variability of the maritime environment and the sustainability of combat), limited operational capabilities, the need for efficient coordination, and protracted combat are peculiarly challenging to meet by traditional manned fleets. In contrast, with lower costs, unmanned fleets can organize an autonomous defense against enemy targets that are capable of rapid response. This paper focuses on the typical defense scenario; we analyzed and modeled the objective functions of the intelligent defense system and propose a hierarchical distributed multi-agent-based system design scheme. Finally, to test the system’s performance, we established simulation verification experiments in a typical scenario and compared the system based on the traditional central architecture. The results show that, in a defense operation, the hierarchically-distributed multi-agent-based system shows improvements in system decision-making efficiency and interception effect.