Search for smart evaders with sweeping agents

Abstract

Suppose in a given planar circular region, there are smart mobile evaders and we want to find them using sweeping agents. We assume the sweeping agents are in a line formation whose total length is predetermined. We propose procedures for designing a sweeping process that ensures the successful completion of the task, thereby deriving conditions on the sweeping velocity of the linear formation and its path. Successful completion of the task means that evaders with a given limit on their velocity cannot escape the sweeping agents. We present results on the search time given the initial conditions.

Search for Smart Evaders With Swarms of Sweeping Agents

“…In our previous work [22], the confinement of an unknown number of smart evaders that are originally located somewhere inside a given circular region to their original domain is investigated. By deploying a line formation of searching agents or alternatively a single agent with an equivalent sized linear sensor that sweep inside and around the region, guaranteed detection protocols are developed.…”

“…The results obtained from the paper show that performing the circular pincer sweep process, where pairs of defenders sweep toward each other allow for lower critical speeds and shorter sweep times until the entire evader region is searched and cleared from evaders compared to a circular sweep process in which the defenders are equally distributed around the evader region and all sweep in the same direction. A circular sweep process in which the searchers all rotate in the same direction is the extension of [22] to a scenario where the defenders are distributed equally around the region and perform the circular sweep protocol described in [22]. Therefore, defenders that rotate in the same direction have to perform an end-game scenario similar to the one described in [22] in order to completely clear the region from evaders, a set of maneuvers that is unnecessary when using the circular pincer sweep protocol described in [19].…”

“…A circular sweep process in which the searchers all rotate in the same direction is the extension of [22] to a scenario where the defenders are distributed equally around the region and perform the circular sweep protocol described in [22]. Therefore, defenders that rotate in the same direction have to perform an end-game scenario similar to the one described in [22] in order to completely clear the region from evaders, a set of maneuvers that is unnecessary when using the circular pincer sweep protocol described in [19].…”

“…This work aims to solve the dual problem to the problem investigated in [22] and [19], which is to protect a given initial region that does not contain invaders from their entrance, and if possible to expand the protected region to the maximal defendable size possible. The first task this work is concerned with, the guarding task is analogous to the confinement task in [19], [22], in the sense that it aims to keep the protected region's radius constant after the defenders complete a full sweep around the region. The maximal expansion task, in which after each full sweep around the protected region, its radius increases is the dual problem to the constriction of the evader region in [19], [22].…”

AntAlate—A Multi-Agent Autonomy Framework

“…Our work during these years led us to develop several types of local interaction-based motion rules for autonomous mobile agents in swarms deployed in various types of environments that achieve global tasks such as patrolling an area, gathering into a cohesive but flexible "cloud" of agents, coverage of regions for intruder detection, equitable distribution of workload, and path planning. See for example, the works of Wagner and Bruckstein (1997), Yanovski et al (2003), Felner et al (2006, Gordon et al (2008), Osherovich et al (2008), Elor and Bruckstein (2014), Elazar and Bruckstein (2016), Bellaiche and Bruckstein (2017), Dovrat and Bruckstein (2017), Altshuler et al (2018), Manor and Bruckstein (2018), Amir and Bruckstein (2019), Barel et al (2021), andFrancos and. We also addressed the issue of achieving guidance and steering of cohesive mobile agent swarms using some global "broadcast control" ideas, as presented in works by Segall and Bruckstein (2016), Dovrat and Bruckstein (2017), and Barel et al (2018); where the broadcast signal is often assumed to be acquired by only a random set of the swarm's agents.…”