Control and Analysis of Energetic Swarm Systems

In this paper, an M-member continuous-time swarm problem is investigated considering the swarm bulk kinetic energy and internal kinetic energy. The motion of each individual is determined by an external input, a velocity damping term, and attraction/repulsion from the other individuals. A swarm temperature variable is defined to study the internal kinetic energy properties of the swarm. A controller is developed such that the swarm center can follow any desired trajectory with different corresponding swarm temperatures. Simulation is used to validate the results and provide more insight into the problem of swarm cohesion.