@article{a6eace7cb0df4da880371f1c58b994d2,
title = "A swarm-based approach to dynamic coverage control of multi-agent systems",
abstract = "In this paper, we propose a swarm-based dynamic coverage scheme where we consider groups of coverage agents that behave as swarms for completing the coverage task. Agents are deployed to uncovered regions via swarming control where a leader agent selects a target position that is in an uncovered region while all other agents are commanded to swarm around the leader agent's target position. Coverage and swarming control inputs are decoupled, meaning that only one of them is active at a given time. Through the decoupling of these control inputs, we attain simpler control problems that we analyze separately for different behavior modes and provide stability results for the overall control schemes through Lyapunov-like analysis for two different cases: swarms of kinematic unicycle agents and multiple swarms of single-integrator agents. In addition to the coverage objective, we design control inputs for collision and static obstacle avoidance and proximity maintenance.",
keywords = "Collision avoidance, Cooperative control, Coverage control, Multi-agent systems, Swarm control",
author = "Atın{\c c}, {G{\"o}khan M.} and Stipanovi{\'c}, {Du{\v s}an M.} and Voulgaris, {Petros G.}",
note = "Funding Information: In this paper, we proposed a novel swarm-based coverage control scheme that combines multiple objectives. We believe that there are several directions in which our work can be extended. A natural next step would be to apply our scheme to agents with velocity constraints, such as UAVs. Moreover, our approach can easily be extended to 3-D coverage problems. Finally, in this work, our scheme is limited to convex obstacle avoidance; thus, future work aims to generalize it to incorporate avoidance for nonconvex obstacles. Dr. G{\"o}khan M. Atın{\c c} received his B.S. degree in Mechatronics Engineering from Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey, in 2007, and M.S. (under supervision of Professor Du{\v s}an Stipanovi{\'c} ) and Ph.D. degrees (under supervision of Professor Du{\v s}an Stipanovi{\'c} and Professor Petros Voulgaris) in Mechanical Engineering from University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign, Illinois, in 2009 and 2014, respectively. He was a research assistant at Coordinated Science Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in the period between 2009 and 2014. As of 2019, he is a Software Engineer for Statistics and Machine Learning Toolbox at MathWorks, Natick, Massachusetts. His research interests include stability and control of nonlinear systems, adaptive and learning-based control of dynamic systems, control of autonomous multi-agent systems, cooperative control and robotics, and machine learning and its applications to control and robotics. Du{\v s}an M. Stipanovi{\'c} received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Belgrade, Belgrade, then Yugoslavia, in 1994, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees (under supervision of Professor Dragoslav {\v S}iljak) in Electrical Engineering from Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California, in 1996 and 2000, respectively. He was an Adjunct Lecturer and Research Associate with the Department of Electrical Engineering at Santa Clara University in the period between 1998 and 2001, and a Research Associate in Professor Claire Tomlin{\textquoteright}s Hybrid Systems Laboratory of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University, Stanford, California, in the period between 2001 and 2004. Since 2004, he has been a faculty member in the Coordinated Science Laboratory and the Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. His research interests include decentralized control and estimation, stability of dynamic systems, and differential game theory, power electronics, robotics, and safety verification. Dr. Petros G. Voulgaris received the Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from the National Technical University, Athens, Greece, in 1986, and the S.M. and Ph.D. degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, in 1988 and 1991, respectively. Since August 1991, he has been with the Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where he is currently a Professor. He also holds joint appointments with the Coordinated Science Laboratory, and the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the same university. His research interests include robust and optimal control and estimation, communications and control, networks and control, and applications of advanced control methods to engineering practice including flight control, nano-scale control, robotics, and structural control systems. He is a recipient of the National Science Foundation Research Initiation Award (1993), the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award (1995) and the UIUC Xerox Award for research. He has been an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control and the ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control. He is also a Fellow of IEEE. Funding Information: This work has been supported by Qatar National Research Fund under NPRP Grant 4-536-2-199. The material in this paper was not presented at any conference. This paper was recommended for publication in revised form by Associate Editor M. Zavlanos under the direction of Editor Christos G. Cassandras",
year = "2020",
month = feb,
doi = "10.1016/j.automatica.2019.108637",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "112",
journal = "Automatica",
issn = "0005-1098",
publisher = "Elsevier Limited",
}