Coordination without communication: the case of the flocking problem (Vincenzo Gervasi, Giuseppe Prencipe)

Dipartimento di Informatica, Universitia di Pisa, via F. Buonarroti 2, Pisa I-56127, Italy
Abstract: In this paper, we study the distributed coordination and control of a set of asynchronous, anonymous, memoryless mobile vehicles that can freely move on a two-dimensional plane but cannot communicate among themselves. In particular, we analyze the problem of forming a certain pattern and following a designated vehicle, referred to as the leader, while maintaining the pattern: the flocking problem. We provide an algorithm to solve the flocking problem, together with theoretical considerations on its correctness and applicability, and numerical simulation showing the actual behavior of the algorithm. We also propose two variants of the algorithm sporting a more stable convergence, and analyze how different conditions on the equipment available to the vehicles and on the amount of knowledge they share a3ect the kind of patterns that can be formed.
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