Multi-agent Aerial Monitoring of Moving Convoys using Elliptical Orbits
This addresses the challenge of efficient multi-agent monitoring for dynamic targets in applications like security or logistics, though it appears incremental in its approach.
The paper tackles the problem of aerial surveillance of a moving ground convoy by proposing a scheme where aerial agents maintain a uniformly spaced formation on a time-varying elliptical orbit around the convoy, validated through simulations and experiments with quadrotors and ground robots.
We propose a novel scheme for surveillance of a dynamic ground convoy moving along a non-linear trajectory, by aerial agents that maintain a uniformly spaced formation on a time-varying elliptical orbit encompassing the convoy. Elliptical orbits are used as they are more economical than circular orbits for circumnavigating the group of targets in the moving convoy. The proposed scheme includes an algorithm for computing feasible elliptical orbits, a vector guidance law for agent motion along the desired orbit, and a cooperative strategy to control the speeds of the aerial agents in order to quickly achieve and maintain the desired formation. It achieves mission objectives while accounting for linear and angular speed constraints on the aerial agents. The scheme is validated through simulations and actual experiments with a convoy of ground robots and a team of quadrotors as the aerial agents, in a motion capture environment.