A Novel Hybrid Auction Algorithm for Multi-UAVs Dynamic Task Assignment

Abstract

The auction algorithm is a widely used method for task assignments. However, most existing auction algorithms yield poor performance when applied to multi-UAVs dynamic task assignment. To end this, we propose a novel hybrid ''Two-Stage'' auction algorithm based on the hierarchical decision mechanism and an improved objective function, which simultaneously realizes heterogeneous multi-UAVs dynamic task assignment with limited resources of each UAV and avoidance obstacle path planning. In the first stage, according to the novel proposed hierarchical decision mechanism, we select a task that is urgently needed to be performed in the task group by using the decision function and three attribute values of tasks. After the first stage, it will result in a reasonable auction sequence, instead of random auction sequence as in previous algorithms. In the second stage, by considering the coverage factor and adaptive-limitation penalty term, a novel objective function is proposed and directs related UAVs for auction. In addition, we combine the structural advantages of the centralized and distributed auction algorithm, which greatly promotes its performance in dynamic task assignment. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms many state-of-the-art models in efficiency and robustness. INDEX TERMS Hierarchical decision mechanism, unmanned air vehicle, dynamic task assignment, auction algorithm, decision function.

Hierarchical Task Assignment Strategy for Heterogeneous Multi-UAV System in Large-Scale Search and Rescue Scenarios

“…The cruise speeds and fuel consumption rates of UAVs are respectively introduced to describe the flight cost of UAVs and the fuel cost of UAVs. [39] reveals that the fuel consumption rate of actual flight is close to be linear to UAV's flight distance. Thus, the fuel consumptions of UAVs are assumed to be constant in this paper.…”

Energy Efficient Task Cooperation for Multi-UAV Networks: A Coalition Formation Game Approach

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“…With the development of UAV technology, one UAV can be equipped with diverse devices that support multiple capabilities, such as data collection, ground reconnaissance, and audio monitoring at the same time. Therefore, the problem of multi-task assigned by multi-UAV was raised [11]- [13]. In [11], multiple UAVs with different capacities were assigned to performing tasks with heterogeneous requirements.…”

“…The authors assigned multiple UAVs to multiple tasks to improve task performance while ensuring communication. In [13], multi-ple UAVs were used to perform attack, reconnaissance and induced tasks. The authors proposed an adaptive-limitation penalty term based on the potential function.…”

“…However, the task performing behavior of different UAVs was assumed independent in the above work [7]- [13], while the cooperative relationship between heterogeneous UAVs was not considered. In fact, one mission area may contain multiple types of tasks, and UAVs can perform multiple missions.…”