Comparison of Centralized and Decentralized Approaches in Cooperative Coverage Problems with Energy-Constrained Agents

TL;DR

This paper compares centralized and decentralized multi-agent coverage strategies with energy constraints, developing near-optimal control methods that maximize coverage while managing energy repletion and charging.

Contribution

It introduces a near-optimal centralized coverage control method considering energy constraints and switching strategies for coverage and charging formations.

Findings

Centralized approach achieves higher coverage performance.

Switching control effectively manages energy constraints.

Optimal dwell and charging times improve overall coverage.

Abstract

A multi-agent coverage problem is considered with energy-constrained agents. The objective of this paper is to compare the coverage performance between centralized and decentralized approaches. To this end, a near-optimal centralized coverage control method is developed under energy depletion and repletion constraints. The optimal coverage formation corresponds to the locations of agents where the coverage performance is maximized. The optimal charging formation corresponds to the locations of agents with one agent fixed at the charging station and the remaining agents maximizing the coverage performance. We control the behavior of this cooperative multi-agent system by switching between the optimal coverage formation and the optimal charging formation. Finally, the optimal dwell times at coverage locations, charging time, and agent trajectories are determined so as to maximize coverage over a given time interval. In particular, our controller guarantees that at any time there is at most one agent leaving the team for energy repletion.