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Title: A Distributed Simplex Architecture for Multi-Agent Systems
We present the Distributed Simplex Architecture (DSA), a new runtime assurance technique that provides safety guarantees for multi-agent systems (MASs). DSA is inspired by the Simplex control architecture of Sha et al., but with some significant differences. The traditional Simplex approach is limited to single-agent systems or a MAS with a centralized control scheme. DSA addresses this limitation by extending the scope of Simplex to include MASs under distributed control. In DSA, each agent runs a local instance of traditional Simplex such that the preservation of safety in the local instances implies safety for the entire MAS. Control Barrier Functions play a critical role. They are used to define DSA’s core components (the baseline controller and the decision module’s switching logic between advanced and baseline controllers) and to verify the safety of a DSA instance in a distributed manner. We provide a general proof of safety for DSA, and present experimental results for several case studies, including flocking with collision avoidance, safe navigation of ground rovers through way-points, and the safe operation of a microgrid.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1954837 2040599
NSF-PAR ID:
10327798
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
7th International Symposium on Dependable Software Engineering: Theories, Tools and Applications (SETTA 2021)
Page Range / eLocation ID:
239-257
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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