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arXiv · 1806.05220

Decentralized Ergodic Control: Distribution-Driven Sensing and Exploration for Multi-Agent Systems

Ian Abraham·Todd D. Murphey
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Abstract

We present a decentralized ergodic control policy for time-varying area coverage problems for multiple agents with nonlinear dynamics. Ergodic control allows us to specify distributions as objectives for area coverage problems for nonlinear robotic systems as a closed-form controller. We derive a variation to the ergodic control policy that can be used with consensus to enable a fully decentralized multi-agent control policy. Examples are presented to illustrate the applicability of our method for multi-agent terrain mapping as well as target localization. An analysis on ergodic policies as a Nash equilibrium is provided for game theoretic applications.

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Ian Abraham, Todd D. Murphey. 2018-06-13. Decentralized Ergodic Control: Distribution-Driven Sensing and Exploration for Multi-Agent Systems. https://doi.org/10.1109/lra.2018.2849588

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