A Swarm Model for Target Capturing in a Polygonal Strip

This paper presents a methodology to generate proper state trajectories of a swarm of agents, described as a single integrator model. The main goal of the proposed methodology is to route the agents into planar polygons like areas, so that to accomplish for cooperative perimeter surveillance or target capturing tasks. In particular, the agents are driven into a polygonal strip defined by a given containment external convex polygonal region and an internal forbidden convex polygonal region around a prescribed target. The control law is designed looking at a circular strip, then a conversion from circular to polygonal areas is applied to achieve the prescribed goal. Steady-state conditions are analyzed and sufficient conditions derived in terms of the control law parameters. Simulation results put in light the main properties of the resulting kinematic state description.