Signal-flow architecture for cooperative control and resource allocation
Methods and supporting systems for allocating a resource among multiple agents are disclosed. Multipoint-to-multipoint communication is established among the agents, with each agent using an amount of a resource. A first agent receives information associated with the resource usage of a second agent and determines the difference in resource usage between itself and the second agent. Based in part on the resource usage difference, the first agent is controlled to modify its use of the resource.
1. A method of allocating a resource among a plurality of agents, the method comprising:
establishing decentralized, multipoint-to-multipoint communication among a plurality of agents, each agent comprising a memory and a processor that executes instructions stored on the memory to configure the agent to use an amount of a resource;
receiving, at a first agent in the plurality of agents, information associated with the resource usage of a second agent in the plurality of agents;
determining, by the first agent, a difference in resource usage between the first and second agents; and
controlling the first agent to modify its use of the resource based at least in part on the difference in resource usage between the first and second agents,
wherein the agents comprise vehicles, aircraft, robots, networking devices, computing systems, or environmental controllers,
wherein use of the resource by the agents locally minimizes a cost function comprising:
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wherein x j is the resource usage of a particular agent j,
wherein x k is the resource usage of a particular agent k,
wherein N is the number of agents,
wherein B is a set of pairs of agents (j, k) in communication with each other, and
wherein F jk (x) and F 0 (x) are penalty functions.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the resource is selected from the group consisting of energy consumption, temperature, pressure, and communications bandwidth.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multipoint-to-multipoint communication comprises wireless connections.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein each agent comprises a radio transmitter/receiver for communicating with other agents.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of agents do not communicate globally with each other using a centralized communication channel.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein each agent is able to determine a difference in resource usage between itself and each other agent with which it communicates.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein each agent is able to determine an overall usage of the resource.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the resource usages of one or more of the agents are subject to respective constraints.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information associated with the resource usage of the second agent comprises an output of a control function applied to a difference in resource usage between the second and first agents.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the control function is a nonlinear function.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the first agent to modify its use of the resource comprises controlling the first agent, if the resource usage of the first agent is limited to a constraint, to use an amount of the resource equal to the constraint.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the first agent to modify its use of the resource comprises controlling the first agent, if the resource usage of the first agent is not limited to a constraint, to increase or decrease the amount of the resource used by the first agent.
13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising communicating, by the first agent to the second agent, information associated with the resource usage of the first agent.
14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising controlling the second agent to modify its use of the resource based at least in part on a difference in resource usage between the first and second agents.
15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, at the first agent, information associated with the resource usage of a third agent in the plurality of agents;
determining, by the first agent, a difference in resource usage between the first and third agents; and
controlling the first agent to modify its use of the resource based at least in part on the difference in resource usage between the first and second agents and the difference in resource usage between the first and third agents.
16. A system for allocating a resource among a plurality of agents, the system comprising:
a plurality of agents in decentralized, multipoint-to-multipoint communication, each agent comprising (i) a memory and a processor that executes instructions stored on the memory to configure the agent to use an amount of a resource and (ii) a transmitter/receiver for communicating with other agents, wherein a first agent in the plurality of agents is configured to:
receive information associated with the resource usage of a second agent in the plurality of agents;
determine a difference in resource usage between the first and second agents; and
control the first agent to modify its use of the resource based at least in part on the difference in resource usage between the first and second agents,
wherein the agents comprise vehicles, aircraft, robots, networking devices, computing systems, or environmental controllers,
wherein use of the resource by the agents locally minimizes a cost function comprising:
min
x
1
,
…
,
x
N
F
0
(
∑
k
=
1
N
x
k
)
+
∑
(
j
,
k
)
∈
ℬ
F
jk
(
x
j
-
x
k
)
wherein x j is the resource usage of a particular agent j,
wherein x k is the resource usage of a particular agent k,
wherein N is the number of agents,
wherein B is a set of pairs of agents (j, k) in communication with each other, and
wherein F jk (x) and F 0 (x) are penalty functions.
17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the resource is selected from the group consisting of physical space, energy consumption, temperature, pressure, and communications bandwidth.
18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the multipoint-to-multipoint communication comprises wireless connections.
19. The system of claim 16 , wherein the plurality of agents do not communicate globally with each other using a centralized communication channel.
20. The system of claim 16 , wherein each agent is able to determine a difference in resource usage between itself and each other agent with which it communicates.
21. The system of claim 16 , wherein each agent is able to determine an overall usage of the resource.
22. The system of claim 16 , wherein the resource usages of one or more of the agents are subject to respective constraints.
23. The system of claim 16 , wherein the information associated with the resource usage of the second agent comprises an output of a control function applied to a difference in resource usage between the second and first agents.
24. The system of claim 23 , wherein the control function is a nonlinear function.
25. The system of claim 16 , wherein the first agent is configured to, if the resource usage of the first agent is limited to a constraint, use an amount of the resource equal to the constraint.
26. The system of claim 16 , wherein the first agent is configured to, if the resource usage of the first agent is not limited to a constraint, increase or decrease the amount of the resource used by the first agent.
27. The system of claim 16 , wherein the first agent is further configured to communicate to the second agent information associated with the resource usage of the first agent.
28. The system of claim 27 , wherein the second agent is configured to modify its use of the resource based at least in part on a difference in resource usage between the first and second agents.
29. The system of claim 16 , wherein the first agent is further configured to:
receive information associated with the resource usage of a third agent in the plurality of agents;
determine a difference in resource usage between the first and third agents; and
control the first agent to modify its use of the resource based at least in part on the difference in resource usage between the first and second agents and the difference in resource usage between the first and third agents.
30. The method of claim 1 , wherein the resource comprises physical space.