Distributed multi-target search and tracking using the PHD filter

摘要

This paper proposes a distributed estimation and control algorithm that enables a team of mobile robots to search for and track an unknown number of targets. These targets may be stationary or moving, and the number of targets may vary over time as targets enter and leave the area of interest. The robots are equipped with sensors that have a finite field of view and may experience false negative and false positive detections. The robots use a novel, distributed formulation of the Probability Hypothesis Density (PHD) filter, which accounts for the limitations of the sensors, to estimate the number of targets and the positions of the targets. The robots then use Lloyd's algorithm, a distributed control algorithm that has been shown to be effective for coverage and search tasks, to drive their motion within the environment. We utilize the output of the PHD filter as the importance weighting function within Lloyd's algorithm. This causes the robots to be drawn towards areas that are likely to contain targets. We demonstrate the efficacy of our proposed algorithm, including comparisons to a coverage-based controller with a uniform importance weighting function, through a series of simulated experiments with teams of 10-100 robots tracking 10-50 targets.