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Automatic Generation of Persistent Formations for Multi-agent Networks Under Range Constraints

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Abstract

In this paper we present a collection of graph-based methods for determining if a team of mobile robots, subjected to sensor and communication range constraints, can persistently achieve a specified formation. What we mean by this is that the formation, once achieved, will be preserved by the direct maintenance of the smallest subset of all possible pairwise inter-agent distances. In this context, formations are defined by sets of points separated by distances corresponding to desired inter-agent distances. Further, we provide graph operations to describe agent interactions that implement a given formation, as well as an algorithm that, given a persistent formation, automatically generates a sequence of such operations. Experimental results are presented that illustrate the operation of the proposed methods on real robot platforms.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. We also thank Julien Hendrickx for helpful discussions about graph rigidity and persistence.

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  1. School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Brian S. Smith, Magnus Egerstedt & Ayanna Howard

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  1. Brian S. Smith
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  2. Magnus Egerstedt
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  3. Ayanna Howard
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Correspondence to Brian S. Smith.

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Smith, B.S., Egerstedt, M. & Howard, A. Automatic Generation of Persistent Formations for Multi-agent Networks Under Range Constraints. Mobile Netw Appl 14, 322–335 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11036-009-0153-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11036-009-0153-x

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