Agent formations in 3D spaces with communication limitations using an adaptive Q-structure

In this article, we further extend the Queue-formation structure (or Q-structure) in 3D spaces with additional features including: (i) specifying orientation information, (ii) a mechanism for forming sub-formations before the convergence into the final formation, and (iii) adapting the communication structure when communications are limited. The virtual Bobber-agents are used to guide each vehicle toward the appropriate queue, by acting as intermediate targets. In addition, virtual constellation-agents bias the motion of each vehicle to within a user-defined cone to the front of the vehicle so that abrupt direction changes are avoided as far as possible. The proposed scheme relies mainly on simple behaviors between embodied and virtual agents and is computationally inexpensive method. Extensive simulations show the effectiveness of the proposed method. (C) 2009 Elsevier BM. All rights reserved.