A hybrid approach to persistent coverage in stochastic environments. (November 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bentz, William; Panagou, Dimitra
• Is Part Of: Automatica. Volume 109(2019)
• Publication Date: 2019-11
• Subjects: Coverage control -- Collision avoidance -- Autonomous mobile robots -- Cooperative control -- Multi-agent systems; Automatic control -- Periodicals; Automation -- Periodicals; 629.805
• DOI: 10.1016/j.automatica.2019.108554
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0005-1098

Abstract

Abstract: This paper considers the persistent coverage of a 2-D manifold that has been embedded in 3-D space. The manifold is subject to continual impact by intruders which travel at constant velocities along arbitrarily oriented straight-line trajectories. The trajectories of intruders are estimated online with an extended Kalman filter and their predicted impact points contribute normally distributed decay terms to the coverage level. A formal hybrid control strategy is presented that allows for power-constrained 3-D free-flyer agents to persistently monitor the domain, track and intercept intruders, and periodically deploy from and return to a single charging station on the manifold. Guarantees on intruder interception with respect to agent power lifespans are formally proven. The efficacy of the algorithm is demonstrated through simulation.