Toward Cooperative Multi-robot Control for Detecting and Tracking an Expanding Flood Area

Abstract

This position paper deals with formalization of a practical scenario of using multiple aerial robots for monitoring an expanding area, which is a part of an operational framework and a global information system for real-time management of flood disasters caused by torrential rains. Two typical tasks of the optimal information coverage problem, represented by caging the disaster area and tracking its dynamic expansion are sketched. Three basic component of the minimal configuration of the control system-the image segmentation, Kalman filtering based tracking, and distributed formation control-are identified and reviewed.