Swarm Signal Temporal Logic Inference for Swarm Behavior Analysis

In this letter, we propose methods to perform swarm behavior analysis with a novel swarm signal temporal logic (SwarmSTL). We define generalized moments to describe swarm features and propose a logical proposition to represent an event, where the Boolean value of the logical proposition at a certain time is known a priori. We develop methods for SwarmSTL monitoring and inference. As the swarm size can be large, we also propose methods to perform the above tasks by sampling. The methods are applied to three case studies that aim to monitor swarm “maneuver” behavior, infer a SwarmSTL formula to describe the cause of split, and explore a SwarmSTL formula to describe “mixed-species foraging flock” of birds.