A Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Approach for Cooperative Air-Ground-Human Crowdsensing in Emergency Rescue

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Lu, Wenhao, Zhu, Zhengqiu, Zhao, Yong, Tian, Yonglin, Zeng, Junjie, Zhang, Jun, Liu, Zhong, Wang, Fei-Yue
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Lu, Wenhao
Zhu, Zhengqiu
Zhao, Yong
Tian, Yonglin
Zeng, Junjie
Zhang, Jun
Liu, Zhong
Wang, Fei-Yue
author_facet Lu, Wenhao
Zhu, Zhengqiu
Zhao, Yong
Tian, Yonglin
Zeng, Junjie
Zhang, Jun
Liu, Zhong
Wang, Fei-Yue
contents Mobile crowdsensing is evolving beyond traditional human-centric models by integrating heterogeneous entities like unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). Optimizing task allocation among these diverse agents is critical, particularly in challenging emergency rescue scenarios characterized by complex environments, limited communication, and partial observability. This paper tackles the Heterogeneous-Entity Collaborative-Sensing Task Allocation (HECTA) problem specifically for emergency rescue, considering humans, UAVs, and UGVs. We introduce a novel ``Hard-Cooperative'' policy where UGVs prioritize recharging low-battery UAVs, alongside performing their sensing tasks. The primary objective is maximizing the task completion rate (TCR) under strict time constraints. We rigorously formulate this NP-hard problem as a decentralized partially observable Markov decision process (Dec-POMDP) to effectively handle sequential decision-making under uncertainty. To solve this, we propose HECTA4ER, a novel multi-agent reinforcement learning algorithm built upon a Centralized Training with Decentralized Execution architecture. HECTA4ER incorporates tailored designs, including specialized modules for complex feature extraction, utilization of action-observation history via hidden states, and a mixing network integrating global and local information, specifically addressing the challenges of partial observability. Furthermore, theoretical analysis confirms the algorithm's convergence properties. Extensive simulations demonstrate that HECTA4ER significantly outperforms baseline algorithms, achieving an average 18.42% increase in TCR. Crucially, a real-world case study validates the algorithm's effectiveness and robustness in dynamic sensing scenarios, highlighting its strong potential for practical application in emergency response.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_06997
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Approach for Cooperative Air-Ground-Human Crowdsensing in Emergency Rescue
Lu, Wenhao
Zhu, Zhengqiu
Zhao, Yong
Tian, Yonglin
Zeng, Junjie
Zhang, Jun
Liu, Zhong
Wang, Fei-Yue
Artificial Intelligence
Mobile crowdsensing is evolving beyond traditional human-centric models by integrating heterogeneous entities like unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). Optimizing task allocation among these diverse agents is critical, particularly in challenging emergency rescue scenarios characterized by complex environments, limited communication, and partial observability. This paper tackles the Heterogeneous-Entity Collaborative-Sensing Task Allocation (HECTA) problem specifically for emergency rescue, considering humans, UAVs, and UGVs. We introduce a novel ``Hard-Cooperative'' policy where UGVs prioritize recharging low-battery UAVs, alongside performing their sensing tasks. The primary objective is maximizing the task completion rate (TCR) under strict time constraints. We rigorously formulate this NP-hard problem as a decentralized partially observable Markov decision process (Dec-POMDP) to effectively handle sequential decision-making under uncertainty. To solve this, we propose HECTA4ER, a novel multi-agent reinforcement learning algorithm built upon a Centralized Training with Decentralized Execution architecture. HECTA4ER incorporates tailored designs, including specialized modules for complex feature extraction, utilization of action-observation history via hidden states, and a mixing network integrating global and local information, specifically addressing the challenges of partial observability. Furthermore, theoretical analysis confirms the algorithm's convergence properties. Extensive simulations demonstrate that HECTA4ER significantly outperforms baseline algorithms, achieving an average 18.42% increase in TCR. Crucially, a real-world case study validates the algorithm's effectiveness and robustness in dynamic sensing scenarios, highlighting its strong potential for practical application in emergency response.
title A Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Approach for Cooperative Air-Ground-Human Crowdsensing in Emergency Rescue
topic Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.06997