An information-theoretic approach to decentralized control of multiple autonomous flight vehicles

Decentralised systems require no central controller or center where information is fused or commands generated. Information theoretic ideas have been previously used to develop optimal fusion algorithms for decentralised sensing and data fusion systems. The work described in this paper aims to develop equivalent algorithms for the control of decentralised systems. The methods and algorithms described center on the use of mutual information gain as a measure in choosing control actions. Two example problems are described; area coverage for purposes of surveillance and navigation, and sensor management for cuing and hand-off operations. The motivation for this work is the control of multiple unmanned air vehicles (UAVs).