Inverse Agreement Protocols With Application to Distributed Multi-Agent Dispersion

• Published in: IEEE transactions on automatic control Vol. 54; no. 3; pp. 657 - 663
• Main Authors: Dimarogonas, D.V., Kyriakopoulos, K.J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.03.2009; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: agents; Applied sciences; Artificial intelligence; Boundaries; Collision avoidance; Computer science; control theory; systems; Computer simulation; Computer systems and distributed systems. User interface; Control design; Control systems; Convergence; Cooperative control; coverage control; Design engineering; Disperse; Dispersions; Distributed control; distributed multi-agents systems; Exact sciences and technology; Force control; Inverse; Kinematics; Law; Lower bounds; networks; Protocols; Software; swarm dispersion; Vehicles; Bounded control; Lower bound; Closed loop; Computer simulation; Cooperative control; Control synthesis; Distributed system; Closed systems; Multiagent system; swarm dispersion; Cooperation; Distributed algorithm; Kinematics; Distributed control; Minimal distance; Collision avoidance; Artificial intelligence; Workspace; distributed multi-agents systems
• ISSN: 0018-9286; 1558-2523; 1558-2523
• DOI: 10.1109/TAC.2008.2011009

We propose a distributed inverse agreement control law for multiple kinematic agents that forces the team members to disperse in the workspace. Both the cases of an unbounded and a circular, bounded workspace are considered. In the first case, we show that the closed-loop system reaches a configuration in which the minimum distance between any pair of agents is larger than a specific lower bound. It is proved that this lower bound coincides with the agents' sensing radius. In the case of a bounded circular workspace, the control law is redefined to force the agents to remain within the workspace boundary. Moreover the proposed control design guarantees collision avoidance between the team members in all cases. The results are supported through relevant computer simulations.