Collective aggregation pattern dynamics control via attractive/repulsive function

Chen, Michael, Cheng, Zhao, Zhang, Hai-Tao, Zhou, Tao and Postlethwaite, Ian (2009) Collective aggregation pattern dynamics control via attractive/repulsive function. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, 5 (1). pp. 2064-2077. ISSN 1867-8211

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Abstract

In the coordinated collective behaviors of biological swarms and flocks, the attractive/repulsive (A/R) functional link between each pair of particles plays an important role. By changing the slope of the A/R function, a dramatic transition between different aggregation patterns surfaces. With a high value of the slope, the particle aggregation shows a liquid-like pattern in which the outer particles are sparsely distributed while the inner ones densely. In addition, the particle density is reduced from the outside to the inside of each cluster. By comparison, when the slope decreases to a sufficiently low value, the particle aggregation exhibits a crystal-like pattern as the distance between each pair of neighboring particles remains constant. Remarkably, there is an obvious spinodal in the curve of particle-particle distance variance versus the slope, indicating a transition between liquid-like and crystal-like aggregation patterns. Significantly, this work may reveal some common mechanism behind the aggregation of physical particles and swarming of organisms in nature, and may find its potential engineering applications, for example, UAVs and multi-robot systems.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Part of the series 'Complex Sciences'.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	swarm/school, multi-agent systems
Subjects:	H600 Electronic and Electrical Engineering
Department:	Faculties > Engineering and Environment > Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering
Depositing User:	Sarah Howells
Date Deposited:	16 Oct 2012 10:32
Last Modified:	13 Oct 2019 00:25
URI:	http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/9690

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