SENSORS: Cooperative Robotics and Geometric Optimization for Mobile Sensors

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Robotics and Computer Vision ProgramABSTRACTProposal #: 0330008Title: SENSORS: Cooperative Robotics and Geometric Optimization for Mobile SensorsPI: Bullo, FrancescoUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign This project focuses on mobile and tunable sensor networks and on the algorithms required to perform spatially-distributed sensing tasks including coverage, surveillance, exploration, target detection, and search. To achieve these desirable capabilities, the major objective of this project is the design of cooperative control algorithms for sensor networks. Practically meaningful algorithms need to take into careful consideration all constraints on the mobile sensor network. In particular, this project will focus on algorithms that are amenable to implementation in a cooperative setting, i.e., they are required to be distributed, asynchronous, adaptive, and verifiably correct.The innovative technical approach relies on the following two main ideas. First, optimal sensor coverage is formalized as an aggregate performance metric via methods from geometric optimization. Second, a class of cooperative control algorithms are synthesized by generalizing the classic Lloyd algorithm from quantization theory. The resulting control laws are interaction protocols between the mobile sensors and include behaviors such as, ``move away from your closest neighbor,'' and, ``move toward the geometric center of your sensing region.''Broad dissemination of this research will take place through regular publications, conference presentations and technical reports. Undergraduate and graduate students in the College of Engineering at UIUC will be involved in building the experimental setups and implementing cooperative control algorithms both in the teaching-oriented Mechatronics and Robotics Laboratories as well as in the research-oriented Agile and Coordinated Vehicles Laboratory.