An energy-aware redistribution method for multi-agent dynamic coverage networks

This paper considers dynamic coverage control of unicycle multi-agent systems under power constraints. The agents under consideration implement a visually based patrol protocol. They observe their environment via forward-facing conical anisotropic sensing regions. A local coverage control strategy is presented that allows for the cooperative search of a domain while maintaining collision avoidance guarantees using a novel control method based on the coverage level. Additionally, a novel energy-aware global coverage technique is introduced that restricts the operating range of power-constrained agents while shifting the network redistribution effort onto less constrained agents. The results of several scenarios are presented in simulation to illustrate the efficacy of these algorithms.