On Mobile Ad Hoc Networks for Coverage of Partially Observable Worlds

2025-12-10

AI Summary

This work addresses the multi-agent cooperative deployment problem in partially observable, unknown environments, aiming to simultaneously achieve full environmental coverage and communication network connectivity. We formally introduce this challenge as the Partially Observable Cooperative Guard Art Gallery Problem (POCGAGP). To solve it, we propose a computational-geometry-driven dual-algorithm framework: the centralized CADENCE and the decentralized DADENCE. Both integrate a 270°-corner heuristic for guard placement, a lightweight, local-perception-driven message coordination mechanism, and a partial-observability-aware planning strategy. Evaluated across 1,500 heterogeneous simulations, both algorithms consistently construct mobile ad hoc networks that are fully covering and topologically connected. Notably, DADENCE achieves performance comparable to CADENCE while demonstrating superior scalability and practical deployability—making it especially suitable for real-world distributed robotic systems operating under sensing and communication constraints.

Technology Category

• Multiagent Systems: Adversarial Agents
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems
• Constraint Satisfaction and Optimization: Distributed CSP/Optimization

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Experiences and lessons learnt from Web-based algorithms and system deployments
• Responsible Web: Human-perceived consequences of algorithmic deployment on the web
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Algorithms and analysis for incomplete, noisy, or partially observed Web-related graphs

Abstract

This paper addresses the movement and placement of mobile agents to establish a communication network in initially unknown environments. We cast the problem in a computational-geometric framework by relating the coverage problem and line-of-sight constraints to the Cooperative Guard Art Gallery Problem, and introduce its partially observable variant, the Partially Observable Cooperative Guard Art Gallery Problem (POCGAGP). We then present two algorithms that solve POCGAGP: CADENCE, a centralized planner that incrementally selects 270 degree corners at which to deploy agents, and DADENCE, a decentralized scheme that coordinates agents using local information and lightweight messaging. Both approaches operate under partial observability and target simultaneous coverage and connectivity. We evaluate the methods in simulation across 1,500 test cases of varied size and structure, demonstrating consistent success in forming connected networks while covering and exploring unknown space. These results highlight the value of geometric abstractions for communication-driven exploration and show that decentralized policies are competitive with centralized performance while retaining scalability.

Problem

• Establishes communication networks in unknown environments
• Solves coverage and connectivity under partial observability
• Evaluates centralized and decentralized agent deployment algorithms

Innovation

• Centralized algorithm deploys agents at 270-degree corners.
• Decentralized scheme coordinates agents using local messaging.
• Geometric abstraction solves coverage and connectivity simultaneously.