CONTROL OF MULTIPLE MOBILE AGENTS VIA ARTIFICIAL POTENTIAL FUNCTIONS AND RANDOM MOTION

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the effectiveness of designed random behavior in cooperative formation control of multiple mobile agents. A method based on artificial potential functions provides a framework for decentralized control of their formation. However, it implies heavy communication costs. The communication requirement can be replaced by onboard sensors. The onboard sensors have limited range and provide only local information, and may result in the formation of isolated clusters. This paper proposes to introduce a component representing random motion in the artificial potential function formulation of the formation control problem. The introduction of the random behavior component results in a better chance of global cluster formation. The paper uses an agent model that includes both position and orientation, and formulates the dynamic equations to incorporate that model in artificial potential function approach. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified via extensive simulations performed on a group of mobile agents and leaders. INTRODUCTION Formation control of multiple autonomous vehicles has received attention of several researchers working in the area of mobile robotics because of its potential applications in a number of fields including cooperated search and rescue operation, surveillance, reconnaissance, and boundary protection. Advancement in communication and sensing technologies, and in computing resources have made it possible to coordinate the movement of several autonomous vehicle

FUZZY LOGIC CONTROL OF A LABORATORY MAGNETIC LEVITATION SYSTEM

ABSTRACT This paper deals with the Fuzz