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Pursuit Evasion from Multiple Pursuers Using Speed Fluctuation

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Pursuit Evasion from Multiple Pursuers Using Speed Fluctuation Pursuit Evasion from Multiple Pursuers Using Speed Fluctuations A thesis submitted to the Graduate School of University of Cincinnati In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science In the School of Electronic and Computing Systems Of the College of Engineering and Applied Science February 2013 by Deepika Prasad B.Tech. in Electronics and Communication Engineering Visveswaraiah Technological University, Belgaum, India Thesis Advisor and Committee Chair: Dr. Raj Bhatnagar 1 Abstract An intelligent path planning algorithm for an evader whose objective is to escape capture for as long as possible was designed and implemented on Khepera III robots. To achieve the chase a pursuer algorithm was designed and implemented on two Khepera III robots. This pursuit evasion problem is an unpredictable and dynamically changing environment in which the difficulties faced by the evader when planning an escape route due to the pursuers are corral and capture conditions. The evader considers both the pursuer’s locations and increases or decreases its speed according to the distance between itself and either of the pursuers. It also comes to a stop or reverses into a previous location when need to avoid capture arises. The successful execution of the evader algorithm is analyzed by comparing the results of this speed fluctuation algorithm with one devoid of change in speed. The implementation of the algorithm over Khepera III robots aimed at representing the successfulness of this technique in practical cases, as the work in this field is still relatively new. ii iii Acknowledgements I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to my thesis advisor, Dr. Raj Bhatnagar, whose guidance, encouragement and patience, inspired me to work on this project. I am extremely grateful to him for his support and co-operation which helped me in successfully completing my Master’s degree. I would also like to thank Dr. Carla Purdy and Dr. Karen Davis for their presence on my thesis committee. I would also like to thank Robert Montjoy for his technical support in the research lab. Most importantly, I would like to thank my family and friends for their love and support. I would like to dedicate this work to them. Deepika Prasad iv Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv List of Algorithms .......................................................................................................................... ix List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. x List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ xii Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Motivation ............................................................................................................................. 3 1.3 Our Approach ........................................................................................................................ 4 1.4 Organization of the Thesis .................................................................................................... 7 Literature Review............................................................................................................................ 8 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 8 2.2 Real-Time Path Searching Robots ........................................................................................ 9 2.3 Distributed Problem Solving ............................................................................................... 11 2.4 Pursuit Evasion Games........................................................................................................ 12 2.5 Evasion Strategies ............................................................................................................... 13 Implementation and Specification ................................................................................................ 15 v 3.1 Technical Specifications ..................................................................................................... 15 3.1.1 Hardware Specifications ............................................................................................... 15 3.1.2 Software Specifications ................................................................................................ 17 3.2 Environment Constraints ..................................................................................................... 17 Pursuit Evasion ............................................................................................................................. 19 4.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 19 4.2 Terminology ........................................................................................................................ 20 4.3 Pursuer Path Planning ......................................................................................................... 23 4.3.1 Main Method for Path Planning of Pursuer .................................................................. 24 4.3.2 Corralling Module ........................................................................................................ 27 4.3.3 Collision Avoidance ..................................................................................................... 29 4.4 Path Planning for Evader..................................................................................................... 31 4.4.1 Evader Path Planning with Speed Fluctuation ............................................................. 33 4.4.2 Evader’s Path Planning Without Speed Fluctuation..................................................... 43 4.4.3 Evader’s Path Planning Considering Nearest Pursuer .................................................. 44 4.5 Shared Modules ................................................................................................................... 47 4.5.1 Communication Module ............................................................................................... 47 4.5.2 Stop Algorithm Module ................................................................................................ 48 4.6 Flow Chart ........................................................................................................................... 49 4.6.1 Pursuer Flow Chart ....................................................................................................... 49 vi 4.6.2 Evader’s Flow Chart ..................................................................................................... 52 4.7 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 57 Results and Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 58 5.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 58 5.2 Test Cases ............................................................................................................................ 60 5.2.1 Scenario 1 ..................................................................................................................... 60 5.2.2 Scenario 2 ..................................................................................................................... 64 5.2.3 Scenario 3 ..................................................................................................................... 70 Conclusions and Future Work ...................................................................................................... 72 6.1 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 72 6.2 Future Work ........................................................................................................................ 73 References ..................................................................................................................................... 75 vii viii List of Algorithms Algorithm 4. 1: Pursuer main algorithm ....................................................................................... 26 Algorithm 4. 2: Algorithm for corralling the evader .................................................................... 28 Algorithm 4. 3: Collision avoidance algorithm ............................................................................ 31 Algorithm 4. 4: Evader’s main algorithm ..................................................................................... 35 Algorithm 4. 5: Update direction for evader algorithm ...............................................................
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