Improving the Effciency of a Decentralized Tasking Algorithm for UAV Teams with Asynchronous Communications

Abstract

This work presents a decentralized task allocation algorithm for networked agents communicating through an asynchronous channel. The algorithm extends the Consensus-Based Bundle Algorithm (CBBA) to account for more realistic asyn- chronous communication protocols. Direct implementation of CBBA into such an asynchronous setting requires agents to frequently broadcast their information states, which would cause signi cant communication over ow. In contrast, the ex- tension proposed in this paper, named Asynchronous CBBA (ACBBA), minimizes communication load while preserving the convergence properties. ACBBA applies a new set of local decon iction rules that do not require access to the global in- formation state. This new decon iction protocol also features consistent handling of out-of-order messages and detection of redundant information. A real-time soft- ware implementation using multiple PCs communicating through the user datagram protocol (UDP) validates the proposed algorithm.