Optimotaxis: A Stochastic Multi-agent on Site Optimization Procedure

In English We consider the problem of seeking the maximum of a scalar signal using a swarm of autonomous vehicles equipped with sensors that can take point measurements of the signal. Vehicles are not able to measure their current position or to communicate with each other. Our approach induces the vehicles to perform a biased random walk inspired by bacterial chemotaxis and controlled by a stochastic hybrid automaton. With such a controller, it is shown that the positions of the vehicles evolve towards a probability density that is a specified function of the spatial profile of the measured signal, granting higher vehicle densities near the signal maxima.