Communication Requirements in the Cooperative Control of Wide Area Search Munitions Using Iterative Network Flow

Abstract : Communication requirements are considered for the cooperative control of wide area search munitions where resource allocation is performed by an iterative network flow. We briefly outline both the single and iterative network flow assignment algorithms and their communication requirements. Then, using the abstracted communication framework recently incorporated into AFRL's MultiUAV simulation package, a model is constructed to investigate the peak and average data rates occurring in a sequence of vehicle-target scenarios using an iterative network flow for task allocation, implemented as a redundant, centralized optimization, that assumes perfect communication.