A Hybrid Approach to Persistent Coverage in Stochastic Environments

Abstract: This paper considers the persistent coverage of a 2-D manifold that has been embedded in 3-D space. The manifold is subject to continual impact by intruders which travel at constant velocities along arbitrarily oriented straight-line trajectories. The trajectories of intruders are estimated online with an extended Kalman filter and their predicted impact points contribute normally distributed decay terms to the coverage level. A formal hybrid control strategy is presented that allows for power-constrained 3-D free-flyer agents to persistently monitor the domain, track and intercept intruders, and periodically deploy from and return to a single charging station on the manifold. Guarantees on intruder interception with respect to agent power lifespans are formally proven. The efficacy of the algorithm is demonstrated through simulation.