Balanced Parallel Exploration of Orthogonal Regions
We consider the use of multiple mobile agents to explore an unknown area. The area is orthogonal, such that all perimeter lines run both vertically and horizontally. The area may consist of unknown rectangular holes which are non-traversable internally. For the sake of analysis, we assume that the a...
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doaj-903cbb4a73c2426b9b1712bc3fc0328e2020-11-25T01:18:01ZengMDPI AGAlgorithms1999-48932019-05-0112510410.3390/a12050104a12050104Balanced Parallel Exploration of Orthogonal RegionsWyatt Clements0Costas Busch1Limeng Pu2Daniel Smith3Hsiao-Chun Wu4School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USASchool of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USASchool of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USASchool of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USASchool of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USAWe consider the use of multiple mobile agents to explore an unknown area. The area is orthogonal, such that all perimeter lines run both vertically and horizontally. The area may consist of unknown rectangular holes which are non-traversable internally. For the sake of analysis, we assume that the area is discretized into <i>N</i> points allowing the agents to move from one point to an adjacent one. Mobile agents communicate through face-to-face communication when in adjacent points. The objective of exploration is to develop an online algorithm that will explore the entire area while reducing the total work of all <i>k</i> agents, where the work is measured as the number of points traversed. We propose splitting the exploration into two alternating tasks, perimeter and room exploration. The agents all begin with the perimeter scan and when a room is found they transition to room scan after which they continue with perimeter scan until the next room is found and so on. Given the total traversable points <i>N</i>, our algorithm completes in total <inline-formula> <math display="inline"> <semantics> <mrow> <mi>O</mi> <mo>(</mo> <mi>N</mi> <mo>)</mo> </mrow> </semantics> </math> </inline-formula> work with each agent performing <inline-formula> <math display="inline"> <semantics> <mrow> <mi>O</mi> <mo>(</mo> <mi>N</mi> <mo>/</mo> <mi>k</mi> <mo>)</mo> </mrow> </semantics> </math> </inline-formula> work, namely the work is balanced. If the rooms are hole-free the exploration time is also asymptotically optimal, <inline-formula> <math display="inline"> <semantics> <mrow> <mi>O</mi> <mo>(</mo> <mi>N</mi> <mo>/</mo> <mi>k</mi> <mo>)</mo> </mrow> </semantics> </math> </inline-formula>. To our knowledge, this is the first agent coordination algorithm that considers simultaneously work balancing and small exploration time.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4893/12/5/104online algorithmmobile agentsparallel explorationlimited communicationwork balancing |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Wyatt Clements Costas Busch Limeng Pu Daniel Smith Hsiao-Chun Wu |
spellingShingle |
Wyatt Clements Costas Busch Limeng Pu Daniel Smith Hsiao-Chun Wu Balanced Parallel Exploration of Orthogonal Regions Algorithms online algorithm mobile agents parallel exploration limited communication work balancing |
author_facet |
Wyatt Clements Costas Busch Limeng Pu Daniel Smith Hsiao-Chun Wu |
author_sort |
Wyatt Clements |
title |
Balanced Parallel Exploration of Orthogonal Regions |
title_short |
Balanced Parallel Exploration of Orthogonal Regions |
title_full |
Balanced Parallel Exploration of Orthogonal Regions |
title_fullStr |
Balanced Parallel Exploration of Orthogonal Regions |
title_full_unstemmed |
Balanced Parallel Exploration of Orthogonal Regions |
title_sort |
balanced parallel exploration of orthogonal regions |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Algorithms |
issn |
1999-4893 |
publishDate |
2019-05-01 |
description |
We consider the use of multiple mobile agents to explore an unknown area. The area is orthogonal, such that all perimeter lines run both vertically and horizontally. The area may consist of unknown rectangular holes which are non-traversable internally. For the sake of analysis, we assume that the area is discretized into <i>N</i> points allowing the agents to move from one point to an adjacent one. Mobile agents communicate through face-to-face communication when in adjacent points. The objective of exploration is to develop an online algorithm that will explore the entire area while reducing the total work of all <i>k</i> agents, where the work is measured as the number of points traversed. We propose splitting the exploration into two alternating tasks, perimeter and room exploration. The agents all begin with the perimeter scan and when a room is found they transition to room scan after which they continue with perimeter scan until the next room is found and so on. Given the total traversable points <i>N</i>, our algorithm completes in total <inline-formula> <math display="inline"> <semantics> <mrow> <mi>O</mi> <mo>(</mo> <mi>N</mi> <mo>)</mo> </mrow> </semantics> </math> </inline-formula> work with each agent performing <inline-formula> <math display="inline"> <semantics> <mrow> <mi>O</mi> <mo>(</mo> <mi>N</mi> <mo>/</mo> <mi>k</mi> <mo>)</mo> </mrow> </semantics> </math> </inline-formula> work, namely the work is balanced. If the rooms are hole-free the exploration time is also asymptotically optimal, <inline-formula> <math display="inline"> <semantics> <mrow> <mi>O</mi> <mo>(</mo> <mi>N</mi> <mo>/</mo> <mi>k</mi> <mo>)</mo> </mrow> </semantics> </math> </inline-formula>. To our knowledge, this is the first agent coordination algorithm that considers simultaneously work balancing and small exploration time. |
topic |
online algorithm mobile agents parallel exploration limited communication work balancing |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4893/12/5/104 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT wyattclements balancedparallelexplorationoforthogonalregions AT costasbusch balancedparallelexplorationoforthogonalregions AT limengpu balancedparallelexplorationoforthogonalregions AT danielsmith balancedparallelexplorationoforthogonalregions AT hsiaochunwu balancedparallelexplorationoforthogonalregions |
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