Complex Sciences. First International Conference, Complex 2009, Shanghai, China, February 23-25, 2009, Revised Papers, Part 2

Research Article

Collective Aggregation Pattern Dynamics Control via Attractive/Repulsive Function

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  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.1007/978-3-642-02469-6_83,
        author={Michael Chen and Zhao Cheng and Hai-Tao Zhang and Tao Zhou and Ian Postlethwaite},
        title={Collective Aggregation Pattern Dynamics Control via Attractive/Repulsive Function},
        proceedings={Complex Sciences. First International Conference, Complex 2009, Shanghai, China, February 23-25, 2009, Revised Papers, Part 2},
        proceedings_a={COMPLEX PART 2},
        year={2012},
        month={5},
        keywords={Swarm/school multi-agent systems attractive/repulsive functions},
        doi={10.1007/978-3-642-02469-6_83}
    }
    
  • Michael Chen
    Zhao Cheng
    Hai-Tao Zhang
    Tao Zhou
    Ian Postlethwaite
    Year: 2012
    Collective Aggregation Pattern Dynamics Control via Attractive/Repulsive Function
    COMPLEX PART 2
    Springer
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-02469-6_83
Michael Chen,*, Zhao Cheng1,*, Hai-Tao Zhang,*, Tao Zhou,*, Ian Postlethwaite2,*
  • 1: Temple University
  • 2: Leicester University
*Contact email: mc274@le.ac.uk, zhao.cheng@temple.edu, zht@mail.hust.edu.cn, zhutou@ustc.edu, ixp@le.ac.uk

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.