Stable task load balancing strategies for cooperative control of networked autonomous air vehicles

We introduce a mathematical model for the study of cooperative control problems for multiple autonomous air vehicles (AAVs) connected via a communication network. We propose a cooperative control strategy based on task-load balancing that seeks to ensure that no vehicle is underutilized and we show how to characterize task-load balancing as a stability property. Then, using Lyapunov stability analysis, we provide conditions under which task-load balancing is achieved even in the presence of communication delays. Finally, we investigate performance properties of the cooperative controller using Monte Carlo simulations. This shows the benefits of cooperation and the effects of network delays and communication topology on performance.