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Challenges in Building Very Large Teams

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Cooperative Systems

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems ((LNE,volume 588))

Summary

Coordination of large numbers of unmanned aerial vehicles is difficult due to the limited communication bandwidth available to maintain cohesive activity in a dynamic, often hostile and unpredictable environment. We have developed an integrated coordination algorithm based on the movement of tokens around a network of vehicles. Possession of a token represents exclusive access to the task or resource represented by the token or exclusive ability to propagate the information represented by the token. The movement of tokens is governed by a local decision theoretic model that determines what to do with the tokens in order to maximize expected utility. The result is effective coordination between large numbers of UAVs with very little communication. However, the overall movement of tokens can be very complex and, since it relies on heuristics, configuration parameters need to be tuned for a specific scenario or preferences. We have developed a neural network model of the relationship between configuration and environment parameters and performance, that an operator uses to rapidly configure a team or even reconfigure the team online, as the environment changes.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Carnegie Mellon University, USA

    Paul Scerri, Bin Yu, Steven Okamoto & Katia Sycara

  2. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh

    Yang Xu, Jumpol Polvichai & Mike Lewis

Authors
  1. Paul Scerri
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  2. Yang Xu
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  3. Jumpol Polvichai
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  4. Bin Yu
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  5. Steven Okamoto
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  6. Mike Lewis
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  7. Katia Sycara
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. AAC/ENA, Suite 385, 101 W. Eglin Blvd., Eglin AFB, FL, 32542, USA

    Don Grundel

  2. Guidance, Navigation and Controls Branch Munitions Directorate, Suite 331, 101W. Eglin Blvd., Eglin AFB, FL, 32542, USA

    Robert Murphey

  3. Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Florida, 303 Weil Hall, Gainesville, FL, 32611-6595, USA

    Panos Pardalos

  4. Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, 1037 Benedum Hall, Pittsburgh, PA, 15261, USA

    Oleg Prokopyev

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Scerri, P. et al. (2007). Challenges in Building Very Large Teams. In: Grundel, D., Murphey, R., Pardalos, P., Prokopyev, O. (eds) Cooperative Systems. Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems, vol 588. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-48271-0_13

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