Unmanned Vehicle Area Search via Pheromone Trace Coordination
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for controlling multiple unmanned vehicles (UVs) in search operations are brittle and fail to adapt well to changing conditions, such as moving targets or changes in the search area, often requiring centralized control and leading to increased communication bandwidth and complexity.
Innovation Solution
The use of trace-based (pheromone-based) communications and control schemes, where UVs generate and transmit 'pheromones' indicating searched areas, allowing decentralized movement adjustments based on received data to cover unsearched regions, enabling efficient and adaptive search strategies.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If centralized control schemes are used to coordinate multiple unmanned vehicles, then search coverage can be managed, but communication bandwidth requirements and system complexity increase rapidly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the search area into multiple zones and assigns different unmanned vehicles to different zones based on pheromone concentration gradients. Each vehicle independently navigates within its zone rather than requiring centralized coordination, thereby reducing communication bandwidth requirements while maintaining comprehensive search coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
Each unmanned vehicle autonomously determines its own navigation path by detecting pheromone trails left by other vehicles and naturally seeking unsearched areas. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for complex centralized control algorithms, allowing vehicles to self-organize and adapt to changing conditions without increasing system complexity.
2Productivity
If predefined motion patterns are assigned to each unmanned vehicle, then initial search coverage can be achieved, but the system becomes brittle and cannot adapt to moving targets or changing conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic adaptation through pheromone-based communication where vehicles continuously update their behavior based on real-time environmental feedback. When targets move or conditions change, vehicles detect altered pheromone patterns and dynamically adjust their motion patterns to track targets or explore new areas, maintaining both productivity and adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
Vehicles use pheromone trails as feedback signals to continuously adjust their navigation. The concentration and distribution of pheromones provide real-time information about searched and unsearched areas, enabling vehicles to adapt their motion patterns dynamically without requiring predefined rigid trajectories, thus maintaining search effectiveness under changing conditions.
3Device complexity
If a single unmanned vehicle performs the search, then system complexity is low, but search time increases and performance deteriorates for large search areas
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple unmanned vehicles into a collaborative search system where each vehicle contributes to the overall search effort. Through pheromone-based communication, vehicles coordinate their efforts to cover different areas simultaneously, reducing total search time while maintaining manageable system complexity through decentralized autonomous decision-making.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a temporal dimension to the search process by using pheromone persistence and decay over time. Vehicles exploit the time-varying nature of pheromone trails to coordinate their movements across multiple time steps, enabling parallel search coverage of large areas without requiring complex real-time centralized coordination.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are methods and systems that include a method for controlling movement of a first unmanned vehicle (UV) to search an area, where the method includes generating a first trace associated with prior positions in which the first UV has been located, determining a direction in which the first UV is to move using the first generated trace, and causing the first UV to move in the determined direction. The trace may be a numerical value that decreases as a function of the time that has elapsed since the first trace was generated. The methods and systems may also include receiving data relating to a second trace, and using that second trace to determine the direction. The second trace may be generated by a second UV. The second trace may be associated with a position within a predetermined radius from a position associated with the first UV.