A Multi-Team Extension of the Consensus-Based Bundle Algorithm

The Consensus-Based Bundle Algorithm (CBBA) is incorporated into a hierarchical concept of operation. In the Team CBBA each team of unmanned vehicles plans for all agents in the team to service a set of tasks. This team planning is carried out separately using the traditional CBBA. An "outer-loop" Team CBBA strategy is presented that coordinates planning between teams of agents. The hierarchical structure of the Team CBBA gives an manageable architecture for large numbers of unmanned agents through human centered operations. This is because each (small) team would be managed by a human operator with the Team CBBA coordinating between teams.