Optimization of Multiagent Collaboration for Efficient Maritime Target Search and Probe Tasks Allocation
Zengshuang Li, Yong Zhang, Cheng Cheng, Yuting Yan · IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering · 2025
Multiagent coverage search and task allocation for multiple targets poses a significant challenge in maritime safety. In real marine environments, each agent may possess unique attributes involving detection radius and sailing speed. Multiple probes of targets are typically required for comprehensive data collection, and targets need reprobing at specified intervals due to external factors, making these complexities crucial to address. Driven by maritime practice, we develop a target search model tailored to derive optimal search paths for multiple agents operating in uncharted sea areas. In addition, we introduce an optimal algorithm and task allocation model designed to efficiently assign probing tasks to multiple agents, considering the need for multiple visits to targets and revisit time intervals. The results demonstrate that our approach can efficiently generate optimal solutions from small to large-scale problems within a short time. Our method is expected to enhance maritime target search and probe.