A Decentralised Coordination Algorithm for Mobile Sensors
OA Location
Author(s)
Stranders, Ruben
Fave, Francesco Maria Delle
Rogers, Alex
Jennings, Nick
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
We present an on-line decentralised algorithm for coordinating mobile sensors for a broad class of information gathering tasks. These sensors can be deployed in unknown and possibly hostile environments, where uncertainty and dynamism are endemic. Such environments are common in the areas of disaster response and military surveillance. Our coordination approach itself is based on work by Stranders et al. (2009), that uses the max-sum algorithm to coordinate mobile sensors for monitoring spatial phenomena. In particular, we generalise and extend their approach to any domain where measurements can be valued. Also, we introduce a clustering approach that allows sensors to negotiate over paths to the most relevant locations, as opposed to a set of ?xed directions, which results in a signi?cantly improved performance. We demonstrate our algorithm by applying it to two challenging and distinct information gathering tasks. In the ?rst?pursuit-evasion (PE)?sensors need to capture a target whose movement might be unknown. In the second?patrolling (P)?sensors need to minimise loss from intrusions that occur within their environment. In doing so, we obtain the ?rst decentralised coordination algorithms for these domains. Finally, in each domain, we empirically evaluate our approach in a simulated environment, and show that it outperforms two state of the art greedy algorithms by 30% (PE) and 44% (P), and an existing approach based on the Travelling Salesman Problem by 52% (PE) and 30% (P).
Date Issued
2010
Citation
2010, pp.874-880
Start Page
874
End Page
880
Copyright Statement
© 2010, Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (www.aaai.org). All rights reserved
Identifier
http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/270810/
Source
Twenty-Fourth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence
Source Place
Atlanta, Georgia
Notes
Event Dates: 11 - 15 July, 2010
Publication Status
Unpublished
Start Date
2010-07-11
Finish Date
2010-07-15