Multi-agent Coalition Formation for Distributed Area Coverage: Analysis and Evaluation

Cheng, Ke; Dasgupta, Prithviraj

doi:10.1109/wi-iat.2010.277

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The team of aerial robots works in a coordinated and cooperative manner. Figure 13 shows the maximum and average elapsed time, defined as (7), in the area. A non-cooperative approach is tested in the same scenario, where each aerial robot surveys independently the entire area (following the same path) without communication with the rest of the team.…”

Section: Simulation Results With a Team Of Heterogeneous Quadrotorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distributed Approach for Coverage and Patrolling Missions with a Team of Heterogeneous Aerial Robots under Communication Constraints

Acevedo

Arrue

Maza

et al. 2013

International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems

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Using aerial robots in area coverage applications is an emerging topic. These applications need a coverage path planning algorithm and a coordinated patrolling plan. This paper proposes a distributed approach to coordinate a team of heterogeneous UAVs cooperating efficiently in patrolling missions around irregular areas, with low communication ranges and memory storage requirements. Hence it can be used with small-scale UAVs with limited and different capabilities. The presented system uses a modular architecture and solves the problem by dividing the area between all the robots according to their capabilities. Each aerial robot performs a decomposition based algorithm to create covering paths and a 'one-to-one' coordination strategy to decide the path segment to patrol. The system is decentralized and fault-tolerant. It ensures a finite time to share information between all the robots and guarantees convergence to the desired steady state, based on the maximal minimum frequency criteria. A set of simulations with a team of quad-rotors is used to validate the approach.

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Section: Simulation Results With a Team Of Heterogeneous Quadrotorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distributed Approach for Coverage and Patrolling Missions with a Team of Heterogeneous Aerial Robots under Communication Constraints

Acevedo

Arrue

Maza

et al. 2013

International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Different deterministic strategies may be adopted to patrol the area maximizing the frequency of visits. Some authors propose team formation techniques to solve the area monitoring problem, where the formation of robots behaves as a single one with larger coverage capabilities [17], following a unique coverage path. A cyclic strategy is adopted in Pasqualetti et al [18,19], where all the agents track the same closed coverage path, but in the same direction and equally spaced.…”

Section: Cooperative Coverage Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

An Efficient Distributed Area Division Method for Cooperative Monitoring Applications with Multiple UAVs

Acevedo

Maza

Ollero

et al. 2020

Sensors

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This article addresses the area division problem in a distributed manner providing a solution for cooperative monitoring missions with multiple UAVs. Starting from a sub-optimal area division, a distributed online algorithm is presented to accelerate the convergence of the system to the optimal solution, following a frequency-based approach. Based on the “coordination variables” concept and on a strict neighborhood relation to share information (left, right, above and below neighbors), this technique defines a distributed division protocol to determine coherently the size and shape of the sub-area assigned to each UAV. Theoretically, the convergence time of the proposed solution depends linearly on the number of UAVs. Validation results, comparing the proposed approach with other distributed techniques, are provided to evaluate and analyze its performance following a convergence time criterion.

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“…A method such as George et al [2010]'s might be useful to add the ability for robots in my work to form sub-teams in order to cooperatively complete tasks, but it is not sufficient on its own to form and manage long term teams as members are lost and new members arrive. Cheng and Dasgupta [2010] studied a technique to form teams among groups of robots operating with the overall goal to explore an area. They examine the hypothesis that smaller teams of robots cooperating in an environment can more effectively explore the area than a single larger team.…”

Section: Team Maintenancementioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic heterogeneous team formation for robotic urban search and rescue

Gunn

Anderson

2015

Journal of Computer and System Sciences

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Using teams of robots to complete a task provides a number of advantages over the use of a single robot. Multiple robots are able to complete tasks faster, and provide redundancy in case of equipment failure or loss. Teams of robots with different capabilities and physiologies are beneficial because they allow a team to provide a high level of overall functionality while striking a balance between the cost and complexity of the robots. Previous work tends to focus on the use of pre-formed teams of robots, with little attention to the formation and maintenance of the team itself. An environment such as a disaster zone presents numerous challenges to robotic operation, and it can be expected that the nature of a team will change due to, for example, malfunctions and the introduction of replacement equipment. I developed a framework to support the maintenance of teams of heterogeneous robots operating in complex and dynamic environments such as disaster zones. Given an established team, my work also facilitates the discovery of work to be done during the team's mission and its subsequent assignment to members of the team in a distributed fashion. I evaluated my framework through the development of an example implementation where robots perform exploration in order to locate victims in a simulated disaster environment.ii

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Multi-agent Coalition Formation for Distributed Area Coverage: Analysis and Evaluation

Cited by 9 publications

References 9 publications

Distributed Approach for Coverage and Patrolling Missions with a Team of Heterogeneous Aerial Robots under Communication Constraints

Distributed Approach for Coverage and Patrolling Missions with a Team of Heterogeneous Aerial Robots under Communication Constraints

An Efficient Distributed Area Division Method for Cooperative Monitoring Applications with Multiple UAVs

Dynamic heterogeneous team formation for robotic urban search and rescue

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