Cooperative Relative Localization for UAV Swarm in GNSS-Denied Environment: A Coalition Formation Game Approach

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarms require accurate relative localization to safeguard flight missions in the global navigation satellite system-denied environment due to a lack of absolute position information. The existing work of relative localization faces challenges, such as the ranging information loss and the low localization frequency caused by long-distance ranging and large-scale characteristic of the UAV swarm. This article proposes a clustering-based cooperative relative localization scheme for UAV swarm, which contains a two-level framework: inter/intra-cluster localization. In order to investigate the tradeoff between intracluster cooperation and intercluster packet loss, the clustering-based problem is constructed as a coalition formation game (CFG) model. Given the designed coalition value, preference relation, and the coalition formation principles, it is proved that the proposed CFG model has a Nash stable partition. The designed coalition formation algorithm includes coalition heads and beacon drones selection mechanism. Simulation results show that the proposed CFG algorithms shorten the ranging time compared with global localization and achieve better localization performance (localization error and success rate) than contrast algorithms.