Comparison of Distributed Task Allocation Algorithms Considering Non-Ideal Communication Factors for Multi-UAV Collaborative Visit Missions

• Published in: IEEE robotics and automation letters Vol. 10; no. 2; pp. 1928 - 1935
• Main Authors: Cao, Yan, Long, Teng, Sun, Jingliang, Wang, Zhu, Xu, Guangtong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 01.02.2025; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Algorithms; Allocations; Collaboration; Costs; Delay effects; Distributed robot systems; Dynamic scheduling; Error analysis; Heuristic algorithms; Missions; networked robots; Reliability; Resource management; Task analysis; task planning
• ISSN: 2377-3766; 2377-3766
• DOI: 10.1109/LRA.2023.3295999

This letter comprehensively investigates the performance of six state-of-art distributed task allocation algorithms (i.e., CBAA, CBBA, HIPC, PI, DHBA, and DGA) subject to non-ideal communication factors. The package loss, bit error, and time delay factors are considered in the distributed task allocation process. The performance of the algorithms for multi-UAV collaborative visit missions is compared under pre-allocation and dynamic allocation scenarios. The synchronous and asynchronous communication modes are separately utilized in different allocation scenarios for analyzing the effects of non-ideal communication factors. Comparison results show that bit error factors cause conflicted allocations. For the pre-allocation scenario, CBBA outperforms the competitors in terms of reliability, communication overhead, and efficiency. For the dynamic scenario, CBBA performs best optimality, while DHBA exhibits better reliability and lower overhead in harsh communication conditions.