Continuification control of large-scale multiagent systems under limited sensing and structural perturbations

TL;DR

This paper explores the stability and robustness of a continuum-based control strategy for large multiagent systems, demonstrating its effectiveness under limited sensing and disturbances, with potential improvements via integral control.

Contribution

It extends continuification control methods to scenarios with limited sensing and perturbations, providing analytical and numerical evidence of robustness in one-dimensional ring systems.

Findings

Continuification control remains effective with finite sensing.

The strategy shows robustness against spatio-temporal perturbations.

Preliminary results suggest benefits of integral action in control.

Abstract

We investigate the stability and robustness properties of a continuification-based strategy for the control of large-scale multiagent systems. Within continuation-based strategy, one transforms the microscopic, agent-level description of the system dynamics into a macroscopic continuum-level, for which a control action can be synthesized to steer the macroscopic dynamics towards a desired distribution. Such an action is ultimately discretized to obtain a set of deployable control inputs for the agents to achieve the goal. The mathematical proof of convergence toward the desired distribution typically relies on the assumptions that no disturbance is present and that each agent possesses global knowledge of all the others' positions. Here, we analytically and numerically address the possibility of relaxing these assumptions for the case of a one-dimensional system of agents moving in a ring. We offer compelling evidence in favor of the use of a continuification-based strategy when agents only possess a finite sensing capability and spatio-temporal perturbations affect the macroscopic dynamics of the ensemble. We also discuss some preliminary results about the role of an integral action in the macroscopic control solution.