talk will describe the dynamics and control of autonomous multi-vehicle systems
that are developed using the hybrid intelligent control agent (HICA) paradigm.
HICA is a systems- and control-oriented approach for the modeling, control and
coordination of multi-agent systems in which each agent exhibits both
continuous-valued and discrete-event dynamic characteristics (i.e. is a hybrid
system). A HICA essentially wraps an intelligent agent around a hybrid control
system core.
We
will discuss several HICA control development examples that involve teams of
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) and
unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). The ability of this class of multi-agent
systems to attain its goal is then formulated as a Lyapunov stability problem.
Sufficient mathematical criteria are developed for this property to hold in a
constrained communication environment. Results are demonstrated using a
multi-vehicle pursuit-evasion example. The talk will conclude with a discussion
of recent results in the autonomous control of Lockheed Martin’s Samarai family
of Bio-Mimetic Single Wing UAVs as well as methods for applying the HICA
concept to the control and coordination of Samarai teams.