View Point Planning for Inspecting Static and Dynamic Scenes with Multi-Robot Teams

We study the problem of viewpoint planning in static and dynamic scenes using multi-robot teams. This work is motivated by two applications: bridge inspection and environmental monitoring using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. For static scenes, we are given a set of target points in a polygonal environment that must be monitored using robots with cameras. The goal is to compute a tour for all the robots such that every target is visible from at least one tour. We solve this problem optimally by reducing it to Generalized Travelling Salesman Problem. For dynamic scenes, we study the multi-robot assignment problem for multi-target tracking. The problem can be viewed as the mixed packing and covering problem. We optimally solve the problem using Mixed Quadratic Integer Linear Program to maximize the total number of targets covered. In addition to theoretical contribution, we also present our hardware system design and findings from field experiments.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Computer Engineering

Department dc:contributor.department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2017

Author dc:creator

• Budhiraja, Ashish Kumar

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Tokekar, Pratap

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Furukawa, Tomonari
• Williams, Ryan K.

• Multi-Robot Coordination
• Traveling Salesman Problem
• Target Tracking

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:12641

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/78807