Hierarchical control for autonomous teams

This paper addresses the development of a hierarchical distributed control system for unmanned aerospace vehicles, specifically wide area search munitions. The hierarchy has three levels of decomposition. The top level performs task assignment using a market based bidding procedure. The middle subteam level coordinates cooperative tasks. The lower level executes the tasks, and performs trajectory optimization. The tasks, or functions, include cooperative search, cooperative classification, cooperative attack, and cooperative battle damage assessment. The control system is decentralized with no explicit leader, is redundant, and thus fault tolerant, and has on-line optimal decision capability that allows operation in a dynamic unstructured environment. Simulations are performed for a team of up to eight vehicles that show superior performance over that achievable when the vehicles operate independently.