An Urgency-Dependent Quorum Sensing Algorithm for N-Site Selection in Autonomous Swarms

The ability for individuals and groups to trade off between decision time and decision accuracy when making decisions is commonly found in nature and essential for flexible decision-making responses. There has been little literature that models this ability in autonomous swarms, in which a large number of agents must come to a group consensus without a centralized controller. This paper successfully produces the first urgency-dependent model for discrete site selection by an autonomous swarm. It builds off of quorum sensing techniques found in natural swarms of ants and cockroaches as well as existing discrete site selection models for swarms to improve on previous work by adding the capability for agents to make a time-accuracy trade-off in decision making. The developed model will allow for future autonomous swarms to dynamically and effectively respond to a range of threats such as inclement weather and military attack.