Time-constrained multi-agent task scheduling based on prescribed performance control
For multi-agent systems requiring time-critical task execution, this work provides a scheduling and control method that ensures deadline satisfaction under partial information, though it is an incremental extension of existing control techniques.
The paper addresses time-constrained multi-agent task scheduling with deadlines and Quality-of-Service levels, proposing a scheduling algorithm and distributed hybrid control law that guarantees time constraint satisfaction even when only a subset of agents know the plan. Simulation results verify the approach.
The problem of time-constrained multi-agent task scheduling and control synthesis is addressed. We assume the existence of a high level plan which consists of a sequence of cooperative tasks, each of which is associated with a deadline and several Quality-of-Service levels. By taking into account the reward and cost of satisfying each task, a novel scheduling problem is formulated and a path synthesis algorithm is proposed. Based on the obtained plan, a distributed hybrid control law is further designed for each agent. Under the condition that only a subset of the agents are aware of the high level plan, it is shown that the proposed controller guarantees the satisfaction of time constraints for each task. A simulation example is given to verify the theoretical results.