Optimal View Angle in Collective Dynamics of Self-propelled Agents

TL;DR

This paper investigates how limiting the view angle of self-propelled agents in a swarm can unexpectedly speed up the formation of ordered collective behavior, challenging the assumption that omnidirectional vision is always optimal.

Contribution

It reveals that restricted view angles can accelerate swarm order formation in the Vicsek model, highlighting the potential inefficiency of superfluous communication.

Findings

Non-omnidirectional view accelerates order emergence

Superfluous communication may hinder swarm coordination

Restricted view angles can optimize collective dynamics

Abstract

We study a system of self-propelled agents in which each agent has a part of omnidirectional or panoramic view of its sensor disc, the field of vision of the agent in this case is only a sector of a disc bounded by two radii and the included arc. The inclination of these two radii is characterized as the view angle. Contrary to our intuition, we find that, the non-omnidirectional-view for swarm agents with periodic boundary conditions in noiseless Vicsek model can accelerate the transient process of the emergence of the ordered state. One consequent implication is that, there are generally superfluous communications in the Vicsek Model, which may even obstruct the possible fast swarm emergence. This phenomenon may invoke further efforts and attentions to explore the underlying mechanism of the emergence in self-propelled agents.