Agent-based simulation and analysis of a defensive UAV swarm against an enemy UAV swarm

Abstract

Unmanned systems, including unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs), are increasingly important in military operations. Given the growth of unmanned systems technology worldwide, these systems may increasingly pose a real threat to U.S. and Allied forces in the near future. This thesis proposes a future concept of employing a defensive UCAV swarm, launched from a friendly sea-based platform. To simulate this defensive swarm system, an agent-based simulation model was developed, and appropriate designs of experiments and statistical analyses were conducted. The investigated factors were drawn from the literature review to create several experimental designs with the objective of identifying the significant design factors of the Blue UCAV system. The result of the analysis shows that only five of the eleven candidate factors analyzed are significant, which can be used to inform the engineering specification of preliminary requirements for potential future development.