Reliable coverage control using heterogeneous vehicles

The focus of this paper is dynamic coverage control with heterogeneous vehicles. Two classes of vehicles are identified, where each class has to perform a specific set of tasks and each has different sensor and communication capabilities. The first class of vehicles is composed of coverage vehicles, whose main responsibility is to dynamically cover the domain. The second class of vehicles is composed of coordination vehicles, whose main responsibility is to effectively communicate coverage information across the network. In this paper, control laws are developed for both coordination and coverage vehicles that ensure safe coverage of the domain, while maintaining strong communication links by including a flocking component in the control laws. These set of guaranteed performance properties result in a reliable coverage network.