A Swarm Intelligence Approach to Distributed Mobile Surveillance

Abstract

In the post-9/11 world, new and improved surveillance and information-gathering technologies have become a high-priority problem to be solved. Surveillance systems are often needed in areas too hostile or dangerous for a direct human presence. The field of robotics is being looked to for an autonomous mobile surveillance system. One major problem is the control and coordination of multiple cooperating robots. Researchers have looked to the distributed control strategies found in nature in the form of social insects as an inspiration for new control schemes. Swarm intelligence research centers around the interactions of such systems and how they can be applied to contemporary problems. In this thesis, a surveillance system of mobile autonomous robots based on the principles of swarm intelligence is presented.