Logo
ScienceStack
Table of Contents
Fetching ...
Sign In

Self-organizing Multiagent Target Enclosing under Limited Information and Safety Guarantees

Praveen Kumar Ranjan, Abhinav Sinha, Yongcan Cao

TL;DR

This work addresses multiagent target enclosing under limited information with explicit inter-agent safety. It proposes a self-organizing guidance law that combines an always-active attractive potential toward a circular enclosing radius $r_d$ with a localized Gaussian repulsion activated by a nearest colliding pursuer, implemented via a sliding-mode controller. The key novelty is the nearest colliding pursuer concept, which guarantees collision avoidance by requiring safety with only one neighbor, enabling formation-free coordination and easier scalability. Simulations with varying swarm sizes demonstrate robust, collision-free convergence to the enclosing orbit around a stationary target, validating reduced communication and increased autonomy.

Abstract

This paper introduces an approach to address the target enclosing problem using non-holonomic multiagent systems, where agents self-organize on the enclosing shape around a fixed target. In our approach, agents independently move toward the desired enclosing geometry when apart and activate the collision avoidance mechanism when a collision is imminent, thereby guaranteeing inter-agent safety. Our approach combines global enclosing behavior and local collision avoidance mechanisms by devising a special potential function and sliding manifold. We rigorously show that an agent does not need to ensure safety with every other agent and put forth a concept of the nearest colliding agent (for any arbitrary agent) with whom ensuring safety is sufficient to avoid collisions in the entire swarm. The proposed control eliminates the need for a fixed or pre-established agent arrangement around the target and requires only relative information between an agent and the target. This makes our design particularly appealing for scenarios with limited global information, hence significantly reducing communication requirements. We finally present simulation results to vindicate the efficacy of the proposed method.

Self-organizing Multiagent Target Enclosing under Limited Information and Safety Guarantees

TL;DR

This work addresses multiagent target enclosing under limited information with explicit inter-agent safety. It proposes a self-organizing guidance law that combines an always-active attractive potential toward a circular enclosing radius with a localized Gaussian repulsion activated by a nearest colliding pursuer, implemented via a sliding-mode controller. The key novelty is the nearest colliding pursuer concept, which guarantees collision avoidance by requiring safety with only one neighbor, enabling formation-free coordination and easier scalability. Simulations with varying swarm sizes demonstrate robust, collision-free convergence to the enclosing orbit around a stationary target, validating reduced communication and increased autonomy.

Abstract

This paper introduces an approach to address the target enclosing problem using non-holonomic multiagent systems, where agents self-organize on the enclosing shape around a fixed target. In our approach, agents independently move toward the desired enclosing geometry when apart and activate the collision avoidance mechanism when a collision is imminent, thereby guaranteeing inter-agent safety. Our approach combines global enclosing behavior and local collision avoidance mechanisms by devising a special potential function and sliding manifold. We rigorously show that an agent does not need to ensure safety with every other agent and put forth a concept of the nearest colliding agent (for any arbitrary agent) with whom ensuring safety is sufficient to avoid collisions in the entire swarm. The proposed control eliminates the need for a fixed or pre-established agent arrangement around the target and requires only relative information between an agent and the target. This makes our design particularly appealing for scenarios with limited global information, hence significantly reducing communication requirements. We finally present simulation results to vindicate the efficacy of the proposed method.
Paper Structure (11 sections, 4 theorems, 18 equations, 8 figures, 1 algorithm)

This paper contains 11 sections, 4 theorems, 18 equations, 8 figures, 1 algorithm.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Problem Formulation
  3. Kinematics of Agents' Relative Motions
  4. Direction/Sense of Target Enclosing
  5. Design of Control Objectives
  6. Self-organizing Multiagent Target Enclosing Guidance Law with Inherent Safety
  7. Analysis of Inter-Pursuer Behavior
  8. Design of Potential Function
  9. Development of the Target Enclosing Guidance Law
  10. Simulation Results
  11. Conclusions

Key Result

Lemma 1

Pursuers situated in Regions I and III corresponding to the $i$th pursuer's position cannot collide with the $i$th pursuer, provided all the pursuers start either inside or outside the desired enclosing orbit.

Figures (8)

  • Figure 1: Multi-agent Target enclosing geometry.
  • Figure 2: Inter-agent reference geometry.
  • Figure 3: Engagement geometry among pursuers in target-enclosing.
  • Figure 4: Regions around the $i$th pursuer.
  • Figure 5: Engagement in various regions.
  • ...and 3 more figures

Theorems & Definitions (16)

  • Remark 1
  • Remark 2
  • Remark 3
  • Lemma 1
  • proof
  • Remark 4
  • Theorem 1: Inter-pursuer Safety
  • proof
  • Remark 5
  • Remark 6
  • ...and 6 more