Optimal decentralization of multi-agent motions

This paper addresses how to optimally decentralize the execution of a multi-agent mission defined at the trajectory-level, where the information flow among agents in the system are limited by a predefined network topology. Each agent's decentralized controllers are constrained to be parameterized functions of the relative distances and angles between itself and its neighbors. Starting with a discussion on what it means for a controller to be considered decentralized, the problem is posed as an optimal control problem for switched autonomous systems. We derive optimality conditions for the parameters defining each mode for each agent, which is combined with optimality conditions for when to switch between consecutive modes. Simulations are used to showcase the operation of the proposed optimal decentralization algorithm on a complex example.