Illustration of Centralized Command and Control for Flocking Behavior

Abstract

Flocking is a term that describes the behavior of a group of birds (a “flock”) in flight, or the swarming behavior of insects. This paper presents detailed information about how to use the flocking techniques to control a group of embedded controlled systems - ‘'Boids''- such as ground systems (robotic vehicles/ swarm robots). Each one of these systems collectively moves inside/outside of a building to reach a target. The flocking behavior is implemented on a server-based control, which processes each of the boids' properties e.g. position, speed & target. Subsequently, the server will assign the appropriate move to a specific boid. The calculated information will be used locally to control and direct the movements/flocking for each boid in the group. A simulation technique and detailed flow chart is presented. In addition to Reynolds three original rules for flocking, two other rules- targeting obstacle avoidance - are presented-. Our result shows that the obstacles' avoiding rule was utilized to ensure that the flock didn't collide with obstacles in each of the boids' paths.