Citation
Nikolay A. Atanasov, Jerome Le Ny, George Pappas. "Distributed Algorithms for Stochastic Source Seeking with Mobile Robot Networks". ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control (JDSMC), 2014; Submitted.

Abstract
Autonomous robot networks are an effective tool for monitoring large-scale environmental fields. This paper proposes distributed control strategies for localizing the source of a noisy signal, which could represent a physical quantity of interest such as magnetic force, heat, radio signal, or chemical concentration. We develop algorithms specific to two scenarios: one in which the sensors have a precise model of the signal formation process and one in which a signal model is not available. In the model-free scenario, a team of sensors is used to follow a stochastic gradient of the signal field. Our approach is distributed, robust to deformations in the group geometry, does not necessitate global localization, and is guaranteed to lead the sensors to a neighborhood of a local maximum of the field. In the model-based scenario, the sensors follow the stochastic gradient of the mutual information between their expected measurements and the location of the source in a distributed manner. The performance is demonstrated in simulation using a robot sensor network to localize the source of a wireless radio signal.

Electronic downloads

• http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.0051. (12 pages (two-column); 3 figures; Manuscript submitted to the ASME Journal on Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control (JDSMC))
• https://www.src.org/library/publication/p069436/. ((SRC prepublication page))
• http://dynamicsystems.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/article.aspx?articleid=1884885

• HTML

  Nikolay A. Atanasov, Jerome Le Ny, George Pappas. <a
  href="http://www.terraswarm.org/pubs/264.html"
  >Distributed Algorithms for Stochastic Source Seeking
  with Mobile Robot Networks</a>, <i>ASME Journal
  of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control
  (JDSMC)</i>,  2014; Submitted.

• Plain text

  Nikolay A. Atanasov, Jerome Le Ny, George Pappas.
  "Distributed Algorithms for Stochastic Source Seeking
  with Mobile Robot Networks". <i>ASME Journal of
  Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control (JDSMC)</i>,
   2014; Submitted.

• BibTeX

  @article{AtanasovLeNyPappas14_DistributedAlgorithmsForStochasticSourceSeekingWithMobile,
      author = {Nikolay A. Atanasov and Jerome Le Ny and George
                Pappas},
      title = {Distributed Algorithms for Stochastic Source
                Seeking with Mobile Robot Networks},
      journal = {ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and
                Control (JDSMC)},
      year = {2014},
      note = {Submitted},
      abstract = {Autonomous robot networks are an effective tool
                for monitoring large-scale environmental fields.
                This paper proposes distributed control strategies
                for localizing the source of a noisy signal, which
                could represent a physical quantity of interest
                such as magnetic force, heat, radio signal, or
                chemical concentration. We develop algorithms
                specific to two scenarios: one in which the
                sensors have a precise model of the signal
                formation process and one in which a signal model
                is not available. In the model-free scenario, a
                team of sensors is used to follow a stochastic
                gradient of the signal field. Our approach is
                distributed, robust to deformations in the group
                geometry, does not necessitate global
                localization, and is guaranteed to lead the
                sensors to a neighborhood of a local maximum of
                the field. In the model-based scenario, the
                sensors follow the stochastic gradient of the
                mutual information between their expected
                measurements and the location of the source in a
                distributed manner. The performance is
                demonstrated in simulation using a robot sensor
                network to localize the source of a wireless radio
                signal.},
      URL = {http://terraswarm.org/pubs/264.html}
  }
  

Posted by Nikolay A. Atanasov on 17 Feb 2014.