Task assignment method for unmanned surface vessel formation based on optimal transport theory

Abstract

The task assignment method for a large group of unmanned surface vessel (USV) is an important research problem in the field of autonomous unmanned system. Appropriate task assignment schemes will facilitate USV formation for quick decision making and efficient execution. Existing methods rarely take the attitude of USVs and their dynamic equations into considerations. This article first established a model of attitude-based task assignment problem for USV formation; next, by linking the model to the optimal transport problem on the manifold, we obtained its discrete form; finally, our simulation experiment demonstrates the necessity of considering attitude-based task assignment problem for USV formation, and the effectiveness of the method proposed in this paper.

Keywords

• optimal transport|unmanned surface vessel formation|task assignment