Aggregation and splitting in self-driven swarms

Zhifu Chen, Huimin Liao and Tianguang Chu

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2012, vol. 391, issue 15, 3988-3994

Abstract: We present a model for studying aggregation and splitting in identical self-propelled particle swarms. A long-range attractive and short-range repulsive interaction among particles is assumed for aggregation of the individuals, and an intermediate-range Gaussian-shaped repulsive interaction is employed for swarm splitting. Our results show that the swarms can split into subswarms and reunite again by tuning the strength of the intermediate-range repulsion. Moreover, the subswarms may move coherently or independently depending on the location of the maximum of the Gaussian-shaped interaction. The average spatial size and nearest-neighbor distance of subswarms can be estimated by analyzing the steady-state configuration of particles. The results might have implications for the design of control strategies in motion coordination of multi-agent systems.

Keywords: Self-driven swarms; Formation splitting and merging; Competitive interactions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:391:y:2012:i:15:p:3988-3994

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2012.03.015

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