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Title: Anisotropic flocking control of distributed multi-agent systems using fluid abstraction
This paper presents a multi-agent flocking scheme for real-time control of homogeneous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) based on smoothed particle hydrodynamics. Swarm cohe- sion, collision avoidance, and velocity consensus are concurrently satisfied by characterizing the emerging macroscopic flock as a continuous fluid. Two vital implementation issues are addressed in particular including latency in information fusion and directionality of com- munication due to antenna patterns. Symmetric control forces are achieved by meticulous scheduling of inter-vehicle communication to sustain the motion stability of the flock. A gener- alized, anisotropic smoothing kernel that takes into account the relative position and attitude between agents is adopted to address potential flocking instability introduced by communi- cation anisotropy due to the antenna radiation pattern. The feasibility of the technique is demonstrated experimentally using a single UAV avoiding a virtual obstacle.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1638034
NSF-PAR ID:
10112919
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Proceedings of the AIAA Information Systems-AIAA Infotech @ Aerospace
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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