Thursday, 5 June 2014

Some definitions used in graphs

A walk  : Sequence of vertices and edges v_i and e_i such that for 1 <= i <= k, the edge e_i has endpoints v_(i-1) and v_i.

The length of a walk is the number of edges in it.

A trail  is a walk with no repeated edges.

A path is a walk with no repeated vertex.

fact - path be a trail, but path may or may not be a trial.

The distance d(u,v) between vertices u and v equals the shortest length of a u,v path.

A circuit is a closed trail.

A cycle is a closed path.

A graph is connected if any two of its vertices are joined by a path.

 A tree is an undirected graph in which any two vertices are connected by exactly one simple path.

Tuesday, 3 June 2014

Laplacian matrix of a graph

The incidence matrix of an oriented graph -
Orientation of a graph X is the assignment of direction to each edge.
An arc of a graph is an ordered pair of adjacent vertices.
Formal definition -
       An orientation of X can be defined as a function sigma from the arcs of X to {-1,1} such that, if (u,v) is an arc, then sigma(u,v) = -sigma(v,u).

Let D be the incidence matrix of the graph X.
The laplacian of X is the matrix Q(X) = D*D'
Laplacian does not depend on the orientation.

Q is symmetric => its eigen values are real.
Its positive semidefinite => evas are all non-negative.

TREES - The number of spanning trees is determined by the laplacian.
[Spanning tree - The spanning tree of a connected undirected graph G is a tree that includes all the vertices and some or all of the edges of G.]

Let e = uv be an edge of X.
The graph obtained by deleting the edge e is denoted by X \ e. Its edge set is denoted by E(X) \ e.
Vertex set remains the same.
contracting the edge e => X / e.




Consensus algorithms. part II

Consensus - when the individuals agree on the value of a variable of interest, they are said to have reached consensus.

To achieve consensus, there must be a shared variable of interest, called the information state,  as well and consensus algorithms for negotiating to reach consensus on the information state.

Examples of information state -  local representation of the center and shape of a  formation, the rendezvous time, the length of a perimeter to be monitored, the direction of motion for a multivehicle swarm and the probability that a military target has been destroyed.

By necessity, consensus algorithms assume only neighbor to neighbor interaction between vehicles.

Fundamental Consensus algorithms. - 
Basic idea - impose similar dynamics on the information states of each vehicle.
Information state update is modeled using a differential equation or difference equation depending on type of communication.


Monday, 2 June 2014

Consensus algorithm algorithms in cooperative control. Part I

Motivation for cooperative control -
greater efficiency and operational capability than autonomous vehicles on solo missions.
Applications -  space based interferometers, combat, surveillance and reconnaissance systems, hazardous material handling, distributed reconfigurable  sensor networks.

Concepts in cooperative control -
Formation control, rendezvous, attitude alignment, flocking, foraging, task and role assignment, payload transport, air traffic control and cooperative search.

Challenges -
1. develop a system of subsystems rather than single system.
2. The communication bandwidth and connectivity of the team. - unreliable channels, what, when and whom to communicate with.
3. team goals and individual goals should be negotiated.
4. Limited computational resources in each individual vehicle.


Common assumptions done -
1. availability of global team knowledge.
2. ability to plan group actions in a centralized manner.
3. proper communication among the individuals.

Axiom -  Shared information is a necessary condition for cooperation.
Information exchange is the central issue in cooperative control.

Coordination information/ coordination variable - the information that is necessary for cooperation.

The objective is to determine algorithms that can ensure the convergence of the coordination variable to pre-specified values in presence of
1. imperfect sensors.
2. communication dropout.
3.sparse communication topologies.
4.noisy and unreliable communication links.