Title :
Decentralized control of a collective of autonomous robotic vehicles
Author :
Schoenwald, David A. ; Feddema, John T. ; Oppel, Fred J.
Author_Institution :
Intelligent Syst. & Robotics Center, Sandia Nat. Labs., Albuquerque, NM, USA
Abstract :
In this paper, the performance of a group of autonomous vehicles tracking a prescribed goal is analyzed. The vehicles are considered to be ground-based unmanned robots acting as a group to maintain an unbroken communication network in a building or some other region. Vehicle interactions are modeled as a chain of interconnected systems. The stability of the entire collective as well as individual vehicles is studied using largescale systems theory. Stability can be controlled via two key parameters: vehicle speed constant (maximum vehicle speed times sample time) and vehicle interaction gain. In addition to the stability analysis, simulation of a group of vehicles in a building with walls, doors, and other obstacles is studied with respect to maintaining a communication network among the vehicles at all times
Keywords :
decentralised control; interconnected systems; large-scale systems; mobile robots; multi-robot systems; stability; autonomous robotic vehicles; decentralized control; ground-based unmanned robots; interconnected system chain; maximum vehicle speed; sample time; stability; tracking; unbroken communication network; vehicle interaction gain; vehicle interactions; vehicle speed constant; Analytical models; Communication networks; Communication system control; Distributed control; Interconnected systems; Land vehicles; Mobile robots; Performance analysis; Remotely operated vehicles; Stability analysis;
Conference_Titel :
American Control Conference, 2001. Proceedings of the 2001
Conference_Location :
Arlington, VA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-6495-3
DOI :
10.1109/ACC.2001.946052