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On Limited-Range Coverage Control for Large-Scale Teams of Aerial Drones: Deployment and Study

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Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS 2022)

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics ((SPAR,volume 28))

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Abstract

When considering a multi-robot aerial system, coverage control can be seen as a basic behavior serving as a building block for complex mission. However, when the number of units in play becomes too high, centralized and global optimal solutions might not scale well, causing a reduction in efficiency and reactiveness. To this end, in this manuscript we propose and analyze a control methodology for area coverage that is fully distributed and is able to mitigate the above factors while still providing high performances. The approach we propose in this manuscript relies on local Voronoi partitioning constrained by limited robot sensing and communication capabilities. To validate our approach, we perform an ablation study over a large set of simulations that we evaluate with a set of proposed metrics. At the same time, the algorithm has been tested on the field, with real quad-copters, and with a set of proof of concept experiments deploying up to seven aerial units.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sciences and Methods for Engineering (DISMI), University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, Italy

    Filippo Bertoncelli, Federico Pratissoli & Lorenzo Sabattini

  2. Autonomous Robotics Research Center Technology Innovation Institute (TII), Abu Dhabi, UAE

    Mehdi Belal & Dario Albani

Authors
  1. Filippo Bertoncelli
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  2. Mehdi Belal
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  3. Dario Albani
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  4. Federico Pratissoli
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  5. Lorenzo Sabattini
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mehdi Belal .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Franche-Comté, Montbéliard, France

    Julien Bourgeois

  2. École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Jamie Paik

  3. CNRS, University of Franche-Comté, Besancon, France

    Benoît Piranda

  4. Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA

    Justin Werfel

  5. University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

    Sabine Hauert

  6. Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

    Alyssa Pierson

  7. University of Lübeck, Lubeck, Germany

    Heiko Hamann

  8. The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China

    Tin Lun Lam

  9. Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Fumitoshi Matsuno

  10. University of Illinois System, Urbana, IL, USA

    Negar Mehr

  11. University of Franche-Comté, Montbéliard, France

    Abdallah Makhoul

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Bertoncelli, F., Belal, M., Albani, D., Pratissoli, F., Sabattini, L. (2024). On Limited-Range Coverage Control for Large-Scale Teams of Aerial Drones: Deployment and Study. In: Bourgeois, J., et al. Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems. DARS 2022. Springer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics, vol 28. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-51497-5_24

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