An integrated approach to the coordinated control of mobile agents

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0622017DasGuptaIntellectual merit of the proposed researchWe are concerned with the cooperative, distributed, fault tolerant and scalable control of networks of multiple mobile objects that cooperate through mutual information exchange, to achieve any number of objectives: achieve a formation, gather data, avoid obstacles, and withstand hostile environments. We integrate issues from controls, communications, networking, fault tolerance and signal processing to understand the basic issues underpinning multi-agent system design. We assume that all agents have been internally stabilized to have stable, possibly nonlinear dynamics. A substantial though not exclusive, focus will be on organizing them into formations specified by prescribed inter-agent relative positions and formation trajectory, through limited exchange of state information over communication constrained media. We will also consider formations defined by distances, rather than relative positions, organized largely through inter-agent distance measurements. These will serve as benchmarks for understanding network organization driven by such broader objectives as signal processing goals of sensor networks or surveillance missions of unmanned vehicles. Broader impact of the proposed ResearchApplications include sensor networks, air traffic control, formations of unmanned vehicles, organization of communication networks in response to disasters, satellite organization, automated highway systems and mobile robots engaged in cooperative tasks. Our research will have a fundamental impact on our understanding of how this technology can best be utilized and its application scope increased. Through the training of graduate students, development of courses and recruitment of women and minority, it will have a significant educational impact.