A Geometry-Based Distributed Connectivity Maintenance Algorithm for Discrete-time Multi-Agent Systems with Visual Sensing Constraints

This paper is dedicated to Professor Zongli Lin on the occasion of his 60th birthday. This paper presents a novel approach to address the challenge of maintaining connectivity within a multi-agent system (MAS) when utilizing directional visual sensors. These sensors have become essential tools for enhancing communication and connectivity in MAS, but their geometric constraints pose unique challenges when designing controllers. Our approach, grounded in geometric principles, leverages a mathematical model of directional visual sensors and employs a gradient-descent optimization method to determine the position and orientation constraints for each sensor based on its geometric configuration. This methodology ensures network connectivity, provided that initial geometric constraints are met. Experimental results validate the efficacy of our approach, highlighting its practical applicability for a range of tasks within MAS.