Cooperative control using data-driven feedback for mobile sensors

This article describes and validates a data-driven cooperative feedback control system for mobile sensors. The system can be used to guide resource constrained mobile sensors through a dynamically changing environment in order to obtain a path that results in data collection at important locations in the domain. A simulated chemical puff is used as a test application where small, resource constrained aerial vehicles provide mobile sensing capabilities. A fluid-based control scheme is used to guide the mobile sensors through the domain to collect data on the puff. The data is then used to update and improve a model of the puff concentration. Simulations are provided, demonstrating the decrease in error between the simulated and actual puffs over time. Additionally, the effect of using different numbers of mobile sensors as well as different schemes for guiding the mobile sensors is investigated. The feasibility of the technique using real sensors is demonstrated experimentally using a single UAV tracking a simulated puff.