Optimal Coverage for Multiple Hovering Robots with Downward-Facing Cameras

This paper presents a distributed control strategy for deploying hovering robots with multiple downward facing cameras to collectively monitor an environment. Information per pixel is proposed as an optimization criterion for multi-camera placement problems. This metric is used to derive a specific cost function for multiple downward facing cameras mounted on hovering robot platforms. The cost function leads to a gradient-based distributed controller for positioning the robots. A convergence proof using LaSalle's invariance principle is given to show that the robots converge to locally optimal positions. The controller is demonstrated in experiments with three flying quad-rotor robots.Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI). SWARMS project (grant number W911NF-05-1-0219)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant No. IIS-0513755)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant No. IIS- 0426838)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant No. CNS-0520305)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant No. CNS-0707601)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant No. EFRI-0735953)Lincoln LaboratoryBoeing CorporationUnited States. Dept. of the Air Force (FA8721-05-C-0002