Herding an Adversarial Swarm in an Obstacle Environment

Abstract: 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.