Distributed nonuniform coverage with limited scalar measurements

Peter Davison, Michael Schwemmer and Naomi E. Leonard

In this paper we demonstrate a distributed coverage control method for a network of mobile agents moving in one dimension along a scalar information density field. The method requires each agent to take a finite number of measurements of the density field in the interval between its two neighbors and calculate its next position in order to drive the network nearer to the configuration for optimal coverage. We derive several results relating to the equilibrium properties of the sensor network and the convergence properties near fixed points. We illustrate with simulations of the algorithm.