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Published January 2015 | public
Book Section - Chapter

Swarm Assignment and Trajectory Optimization Using Variable-Swarm, Distributed Auction Assignment and Model Predictive Control

Abstract

This paper presents a distributed, guidance and control algorithm for reconfiguring swarms composed of hundreds to thousands of agents with limited communication and computation capabilities. This algorithm solves both the optimal assignment and collision- free trajectory generation for swarms, in an integrated manner, when given the desired shape of the swarm (without pre-assigned terminal positions). The optimal assignment problem is solved using a distributed auction assignment that can vary the number of target positions in the assignment, and the collision-free trajectories are generated using sequential convex programming. Finally, model predictive control is used to solve the assignment and trajectory generation in real time using a receding horizon. The model predictive control formulation uses current state measurements to resolve for the optimal assignment and trajectory. The implementation of the distributed auction algorithm and sequential convex programming using model predictive control produces the swarm assignment and trajectory optimization algorithm that transfers a swarm of spacecraft to a desired shape in a distributed fashion. Once the desired shape is uploaded to the swarm, the algorithm determines where each spacecraft goes and how it should get there in a fuel-efficient, collision-free manner.

Additional Information

© 2015 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. This research was carried out in part at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This work was supported by a NASA Office of the Chief Technologist Space Technology Research Fellowship. Government sponsorship acknowledged. Additional thanks to Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay for stimulating discussions and constructive comments.

Additional details

Created:
August 20, 2023
Modified:
October 24, 2023