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Distributed Control and Estimation in Networked Environments

This is the homepage of the "Distributed Control and Estimation in Networked Environments" or "DICE" project. This project runs under the Control and Signal Processing (CSP) Research Group at NICTA and started in 2012. This project follows-on from its predecessor, the "SWARM" project which ran from 2006-2011.

This project focuses on research in the following areas: 
1. Development of general tools for cooperative target localization and sensor self-localization, including when GPS is lost, and determination of localization performance, for example in terms of bias and covariance;

2.  Formation control of autonomous vehicles and control and estimation problems in multi-agent systems and networks;

3. Time difference of arrival de-interleaving for localisation;

4. Characterization of the robustness of a networked system to agent or link failure; e.g.  characterisation of those sensor networks that remains localizable or connected in the event of agent or link failure;

5. Secure control and estimation complex networked environments.

Each topic bears on various fundamental research problems driven by certain real life scenarios of DSTO interest as well as more specific DSTO research tasks.

The primary user of the research is Australian Defence. An occasional user and supporter of the project is the US Air Force who has supplied funding through AOARD. However, the work has other potential users, e.g. those with interest in monitoring bushfires or with surveillance tasks.


Picture2
        Cooperative Surveillance in Formation                                 Robust Self-Localization of Agents                                      Precise Target Localization


Current Research Team

  • Prof. Brian Anderson, NICTA Canberra and the Australian National University
  • Dr. Guoqiang Mao, NICTA Sydney and the University of Sydney
  • Dr. Changbin (Brad) Yu, The Australian National University
  • Dr. Adrian N. Bishop, NICTA Canberra and the Australian National University
  • Yiming (Alex) Ji, NICTA Canberra & The Australian National University
  • Baoqi Huang, The Australian National University
  • Seh Chung Ng, The University of Sydney
  • Xiaolei (Eric) Hou, The Australian National University
  • Dr. Zijie (Jeffrey) Zhang, NICTA Canberra
  • Mohammad Deghat, The Australian National University
  • Alireza Motevallian, The Australian National University
  • Yun Hou, The Australian National University
  • Ben Nizette, The Australian National University
  • Junming Wei, The Australian National University

 

External Partners


Key DSTO Collaborators:

  • Dr. Sam Drake
  • Dr. Hatem Hmam


Others Involved and International Collaboration.

Publications

Publications for the predecessor SWARM project (2006-2011) can be found here: http://bit.ly/IOGcIF 
Publications for the DICE project (2012-current) can be found here: (to be updated)


Selected Publications

S. Drake, B.D.O Anderson and C. Yu, "Causal Association of Electromagnetic Signals using the Cayley Menger Determinant",  Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 95, No. 3, July 2009, http://arxiv.org/abs/0908.3143

I. Shames, B. Fidan and B.D.O. Anderson, "Minimization of the effect of noisy measurements on localization of multi-agent autonomous formations", Automatica, Volume 45, No. 4, pp. 1058-1065, April 2009, http://doi:10.1016/j.automatica.2008.11.018

A.N. Bishop, B. Fidan, B.D.O. Anderson, K. Dogancay and P.N. Pathirana, "Optimality Analysis of Sensor-Target Localization Geometries", Automatica, Vol. 46, No. 3, March 2010, http://doi:10.1016/j.automatica.2009.12.003

X. Ta, G. Mao and B.D.O. Anderson, "On the Phase Transition Width of K-connectivity in Wireless Multi-hop Networks", IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, vol. 8, no. 7, pp. 936-949, July 2009, http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TMC.2008.170

A.N. Bishop, B.D.O. Anderson, B. Fidan, P.N. Pathirana and G. Mao, Bearings-Only Localization Using Geometrically Constrained Optimization. IEEE Trans. On Aerospace and Electronic Systems, Vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 308-320, January 2009, http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TAES.2009.4805281

B.D.O. Anderson, C. Yu, B. Fidan, J.M. Hendrickx, “Rigid Graph Control Architectures for Autonomous Formations”, IEEE Control System Magazine, 23(2):48-63, Dec 2008, http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=4653105

J.M. Hendrickx, C. Yu, B. Fidan, and B.D.O. Anderson, "Rigidity and persistence for ensuring shape maintenance of multi-agent meta formations," Asian Journal of Control, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 131-143, March 2008, http://www.ajc.org.tw/pages/News/AJC_News.htm