Distributed allocation of mobile sensing swarms in gyre flows

Abstract

We address the synthesis of distributed control policies to enable a swarm of homogeneous mobile sensors to maintain a desired spatial distribution in a geophysical flow environment, or workspace. In this article, we assume the mobile sensors (or robots) have a "map" of the environment denoting the locations of the Lagrangian coherent structures or LCS boundaries. Based on 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 establish the stability properties of the ensemble dynamics of the distributed control policies. Since realistic quasi-geostrophic ocean models predict double-gyre flow solutions, we use a wind-driven multi-gyre flow model to verify the feasibility of the proposed distributed control strategy and compare the proposed control strategy with a baseline deterministic allocation strategy. Lastly, we validate the control strategy using actual flow data obtained by our coherent structure experimental testbed.

10 pages, 14 Figures, added references

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• Finite-time Lagrangian transport analysis: Stable and unstable manifolds of hyperbolic trajectories and finite-time Lyapunov exponents
• Lagrangian transport through an ocean front in the North-Western Mediterranean Sea
• The Lagrangian description of aperiodic flows: a case study of the Kuroshio Current
• Set-based corral control in stochastic dynamical systems: Making almost invariant sets more invariant

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Finite-Horizon, Energy-Optimal Trajectories in Unsteady Flows
• Optimal tracking strategies in a turbulent flow