Distributed Encirclement Points Deployment of Autonomous Mobile Multi-Agents Based on Finite-Time Consensus

In the many-to-one pursuit-evasion game, autonomous mobile multi-agents can effectively improve the probability of successful hunting by achieving the cooperative encirclement to the target from multiple directions. To solve the encirclement points deployment, a distributed control protocol is proposed based on finite-time consensus. Firstly, the encirclement points deployment is formulated as the coverage control problem on a circle. The presented distributed control protocol can realize uniform coverage on the circle, i.e., optimal encirclement around the target. Secondly, by introducing the strategy of time-varying feedback gain, the convergence rate of closed-loop system turns into finite-time consensus from asymptotical consensus, such that the efficiency of the deployment is improved greatly. Finally, numerical simulations are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the presented distributed control protocols.