Observability in topology-constrained multi-robot target tracking

Abstract

In this paper, we consider the problem of controlling a multi-robot team in order to track a mobile target with unknown dynamics. Our contribution in this context is a non-linear observability analysis of the target tracking network, which yields insights into the topological and actuation conditions necessary for the underlying state estimation problem. We demonstrate a metric of observability which allows us to determine robot inputs that maximize observability to improve team localization. Combining the observability metric with topological control then yields a robust target tracking solution. We close the paper with a simulation example which demonstrates the ability of our solution to cope with scenarios in which relative measurements poorly distinguish the target.