PurposeThe research of unmanned air/ground vehicle (UAV/UGV) cooperation has attracted much attention due to its potential applications in disaster rescue and target surveillance. This paper aims to focus on the UAV/UGV cooperative target tracking and enclosing, considering the limits of detection and sensor failures. Design/methodology/approachThe UAV/UGV cooperation structure is designed, contributing to homogeneous consistency and heterogeneous communication. The target tracking of UAVs is converted into a constraint optimization problem involving tracking cost, and the target enclosing of UGVs is modeled as formation control. FindingsThe energy estimation pigeon-inspired optimization is developed to generate control inputs for UAVs. And the controller combined with switchable topology is proposed, where the switching rule is flexible in dealing with some emergencies. Practical implicationsThe proposed structure and algorithms can be easily applied to practice and help design the UAV/UGV control system. Originality/valueThe energy estimation mechanism is proposed for the target tracking of UAVs, and the rules of switching topologies ensure the target enclosing process of UGVs.
