Distributed Allocation of Mobile Sensing Agents in Geophysical Flows

Authors

M. Ani Hsieh, Drexel University
Kenneth Mallory, Naval Research Laboratory
Eric Forgoston, Montclair State UniversityFollow
Ira B. Schwartz, Naval Research Laboratory

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

1-1-2014

Journal / Book Title

2014 American Control Conference

Abstract

We address the synthesis of distributed control policies to enable a homogeneous team of mobile sensing agents to maintain a desired spatial distribution in a geophysical flow environment. Geophysical flows are natural large-scale fluidic environments such as oceans, eddies, jets, and rivers. In this work, we assume the agents have a 'map' of the fluidic environment consisting of the locations of the Lagrangian coherent structures (LCS). LCS are time-dependent structures that divide the flow into dynamically distinct regions, and are time-dependent extensions of stable and unstable manifolds. Using this information, we design agent-level hybrid control policies that leverage the surrounding fluid dynamics and inherent environmental noise to enable the team to maintain a desired distribution in the workspace. We validate the proposed control strategy using flow fields given by: 1) an analytical time-varying wind-driven multi-gyre flow model, 2) actual flow data generated using our coherent structure experimental testbed, and 3) ocean data provided by the Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) database.

DOI

10.1109/ACC.2014.6859084

MSU Digital Commons Citation

Hsieh, M. Ani; Mallory, Kenneth; Forgoston, Eric; and Schwartz, Ira B., "Distributed Allocation of Mobile Sensing Agents in Geophysical Flows" (2014). Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works. 42.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/appliedmath-stats-facpubs/42

Published Citation

Hsieh, M. A., Mallory, K., Forgoston, E., & Schwartz, I. B. (2014, June). Distributed allocation of mobile sensing agents in geophysical flows. In 2014 American Control Conference (pp. 165-171). IEEE.