Density-Driven Optimal Control for Non-Uniform Area Coverage in Decentralized Multi-Agent Systems Using Optimal Transport

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Hauptverfasser: Seo, Sungjun, Lee, Kooktae
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Seo, Sungjun
Lee, Kooktae
author_facet Seo, Sungjun
Lee, Kooktae
contents This paper addresses the fundamental problem of non-uniform area coverage in multi-agent systems, where different regions require varying levels of attention due to mission-dependent priorities. Existing uniform coverage strategies are insufficient for realistic applications, and many non-uniform approaches either lack optimality guarantees or fail to incorporate crucial real-world constraints such as agent dynamics, limited operation time, the number of agents, and decentralized execution. To resolve these limitations, we propose a novel framework called Density-Driven Optimal Control (D2OC). The central idea of D2OC is the integration of optimal transport theory with multi-agent coverage control, enabling each agent to continuously adjust its trajectory to match a mission-specific reference density map. The proposed formulation establishes optimality by solving a constrained optimization problem that explicitly incorporates physical and operational constraints. The resulting control input is analytically derived from the Lagrangian of the objective function, yielding closed-form optimal solutions for linear systems and a generalizable structure for nonlinear systems. Furthermore, a decentralized data-sharing mechanism is developed to coordinate agents without reliance on global information. Comprehensive simulation studies demonstrate that D2OC achieves significantly improved non-uniform area coverage performance compared to existing methods, while maintaining scalability and decentralized implementability.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_12756
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Density-Driven Optimal Control for Non-Uniform Area Coverage in Decentralized Multi-Agent Systems Using Optimal Transport
Seo, Sungjun
Lee, Kooktae
Systems and Control
Robotics
This paper addresses the fundamental problem of non-uniform area coverage in multi-agent systems, where different regions require varying levels of attention due to mission-dependent priorities. Existing uniform coverage strategies are insufficient for realistic applications, and many non-uniform approaches either lack optimality guarantees or fail to incorporate crucial real-world constraints such as agent dynamics, limited operation time, the number of agents, and decentralized execution. To resolve these limitations, we propose a novel framework called Density-Driven Optimal Control (D2OC). The central idea of D2OC is the integration of optimal transport theory with multi-agent coverage control, enabling each agent to continuously adjust its trajectory to match a mission-specific reference density map. The proposed formulation establishes optimality by solving a constrained optimization problem that explicitly incorporates physical and operational constraints. The resulting control input is analytically derived from the Lagrangian of the objective function, yielding closed-form optimal solutions for linear systems and a generalizable structure for nonlinear systems. Furthermore, a decentralized data-sharing mechanism is developed to coordinate agents without reliance on global information. Comprehensive simulation studies demonstrate that D2OC achieves significantly improved non-uniform area coverage performance compared to existing methods, while maintaining scalability and decentralized implementability.
title Density-Driven Optimal Control for Non-Uniform Area Coverage in Decentralized Multi-Agent Systems Using Optimal Transport
topic Systems and Control
Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.12756