Dynamic coverage control for mobile robot network with limited and nonidentical sensory ranges

Abstract

The coverage control problem for multiple mobile robot system with limited and dissimilar sensing abilities is addressed in this article. There exist missing areas while taking the previously developed r-limited Voronoi partitions due to distinct sensing ranges. Thus, a modified partitioning approach is proposed to enhance coverage performance. Furthermore, the dynamic coverage controllers are developed with time-varying density function so that the system is more applicable to various tasks such as target tracking or information decays. In addition to theoretical analysis, numerical examples and experiments with four mobile robots are conducted to verify stability and coverage performance of mobile robot network utilizing the proposed coverage partition algorithm.