We propose an optimal control framework for persistent monitoring problems where the objective is to control the movement of mobile nodes to minimize an uncertainty metric in a given mission space. For multi agent in a one-dimensional mission space, we show that the optimal solution is obtained in terms of a sequence of switching locations and waiting time on these switching points, thus reducing it to a parametric optimization problem. Using Infinitesimal Perturbation Analysis (IPA) we obtain a complete solution through a gradient-based algorithm. We also discuss a receding horizon controller which is capable of obtaining a near-optimal solution on-the-fly.
@article{arxiv.1202.6110,
title = {An Optimal Control Approach to the Persistent Monitoring Problem},
author = {Christos. G. Cassandras and Xuchao Lin and Xu Chu Ding},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1202.6110},
year = {2012}
}