Influence of Malicious Agents in a Team Seeking to Contain an Evader

B. Mora, A. Chakravarthy, A. Von Moll, I. Weintraub, and D. Casbeer

Published in SciTech, 2025

This paper explores a multi-agent containment problem, where a fast evader, modeled having constant speed and using constant heading, attempts to escape a circular containment region that is orbited by a slower team of pursuers with a nonzero capture radius. Two distinct multi-agent dynamic models cases are explored, the first uses a unicycle dynamics model with strict constraints, while the second uses a double integrator model with looser constraints and consensus laws implemented with a communication network. This paper considers the scenario wherein some of the pursuers get compromised and turn into malicious agents that suffer a delay in initiating the capture pursuit. A boost countermeasure is proposed and its effectiveness is investigated. This work provides a foundation for a consensus case that incorporates more restrictions in motion and extensions to larger teams of pursuers, as well as a more dynamic evader model.

DOI: 10.2514/6.2025-1348