Controling large-scale multiagent systems in a ring

The coordination of very large swarms is a fundamental, emerging control problem in robotics, biology, and social systems. The classical approach to the coordination of swarms is based on the control of individual agents, which becomes infeasible for very large systems. In their new paper, our Postdoctoral Associate Alain Boldini and Professor Maurizio Porfiri in collaboration with Visiting Researcher Gian Carlo Maffettone and Professor Mario di Bernardo from Scuola Superiore Meridionale in Naples, present an alternative approach, where swarms are modeled as a fluid, on which we exert the control action. The input for each unit in the swarm is computed by discretizing the control action.

Read the full paper “Continuification control of large-scale multiagent systems in a ring” published in IEEE Control Systems Letters here.