Parallel, Asymptotically Optimal Algorithms for Moving Target Traveling Salesman Problems
This addresses a fundamental optimization problem in robotics and logistics for planning efficient interception paths, representing a novel algorithmic advancement rather than an incremental improvement.
The paper tackles the Moving Target Traveling Salesman Problem (MT-TSP) for intercepting moving targets under nonlinear trajectories or kinematic constraints, introducing the Iterated Random Generalized (IRG) TSP framework with parallel algorithms IRG-PGLNS and PCG that asymptotically converge to optimal solutions and show faster convergence than prior methods in numerical tests and robot experiments.
The Moving Target Traveling Salesman Problem (MT-TSP) seeks a trajectory that intercepts several moving targets, within a particular time window for each target. When generic nonlinear target trajectories or kinematic constraints on the agent are present, no prior algorithm guarantees convergence to an optimal MT-TSP solution. Therefore, we introduce the Iterated Random Generalized (IRG) TSP framework. The idea behind IRG is to alternate between randomly sampling a set of agent configuration-time points, corresponding to interceptions of targets, and finding a sequence of interception points by solving a generalized TSP (GTSP). This alternation asymptotically converges to the optimum. We introduce two parallel algorithms within the IRG framework. The first algorithm, IRG-PGLNS, solves GTSPs using PGLNS, our parallelized extension of state-of-the-art solver GLNS. The second algorithm, Parallel Communicating GTSPs (PCG), solves GTSPs for several sets of points simultaneously. We present numerical results for three MT-TSP variants: one where intercepting a target only requires coming within a particular distance, another where the agent is a variable-speed Dubins car, and a third where the agent is a robot arm. We show that IRG-PGLNS and PCG converge faster than a baseline based on prior work. We further validate our framework with physical robot experiments.