{"ID":2841098,"CreatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","UpdatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","DeletedAt":null,"paper_url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.12756","arxiv_id":"2511.12756","title":"Density-Driven Optimal Control for Non-Uniform Area Coverage in Decentralized Multi-Agent Systems Using Optimal Transport","abstract":"This paper addresses the fundamental problem of non-uniform area coverage in multi-agent systems, where different regions require varying levels of attention due to mission-dependent priorities. Existing uniform coverage strategies are insufficient for realistic applications, and many non-uniform approaches either lack optimality guarantees or fail to incorporate crucial real-world constraints such as agent dynamics, limited operation time, the number of agents, and decentralized execution. To resolve these limitations, we propose a novel framework called Density-Driven Optimal Control (D2OC). The central idea of D2OC is the integration of optimal transport theory with multi-agent coverage control, enabling each agent to continuously adjust its trajectory to match a mission-specific reference density map. The proposed formulation establishes optimality by solving a constrained optimization problem that explicitly incorporates physical and operational constraints. The resulting control input is analytically derived from the Lagrangian of the objective function, yielding closed-form optimal solutions for linear systems and a generalizable structure for nonlinear systems. Furthermore, a decentralized data-sharing mechanism is developed to coordinate agents without reliance on global information. Comprehensive simulation studies demonstrate that D2OC achieves significantly improved non-uniform area coverage performance compared to existing methods, while maintaining scalability and decentralized implementability.","short_abstract":"This paper addresses the fundamental problem of non-uniform area coverage in multi-agent systems, where different regions require varying levels of attention due to mission-dependent priorities. Existing uniform coverage strategies are insufficient for realistic applications, and many non-uniform approaches either lack...","url_abs":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.12756","url_pdf":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2511.12756v1","authors":"[\"Sungjun Seo\",\"Kooktae Lee\"]","published":"2025-11-16T19:58:01Z","proceeding":"eess.SY","tasks":"[\"eess.SY\",\"cs.RO\"]","methods":"[]","has_code":false}