Performance of a class of multi-robot deploy and search strategies based on centroidal voronoi configurations

Guruprasad, KR and Ghose, Debasish (2013) Performance of a class of multi-robot deploy and search strategies based on centroidal voronoi configurations. In: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SYSTEMS SCIENCE, 44 (4). pp. 680-699.

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Abstract

This article considers a class of deploy and search strategies for multi-robot systems and evaluates their performance. The application framework used is deployment of a system of autonomous mobile robots equipped with required sensors in a search space to gather information. The lack of information about the search space is modelled as an uncertainty density distribution. The agents are deployed to maximise single-step search effectiveness. The centroidal Voronoi configuration, which achieves a locally optimal deployment, forms the basis for sequential deploy and search (SDS) and combined deploy and search (CDS) strategies. Completeness results are provided for both search strategies. The deployment strategy is analysed in the presence of constraints on robot speed and limit on sensor range for the convergence of trajectories with corresponding control laws responsible for the motion of robots. SDS and CDS strategies are compared with standard greedy and random search strategies on the basis of time taken to achieve reduction in the uncertainty density below a desired level. The simulation experiments reveal several important issues related to the dependence of the relative performances of the search strategies on parameters such as the number of robots, speed of robots and their sensor range limits.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SYSTEMS SCIENCE
Publisher:	TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
Additional Information:	Copyright for this article belongs to TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, ENGLAND
Keywords:	multi-agent systems;cooperative control;nonlinear systems;voronoi partition;multi-robot search;centroidal voronoi configuration
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Aerospace Engineering(Formerly Aeronautical Engineering)
Date Deposited:	07 Mar 2013 12:09
Last Modified:	07 Mar 2013 12:09
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/45934

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