On the Number of Leaders Needed to Ensure Network Connectivity in Arbitrary Dimensions

Abstract

We examine the leader-to-follower ratio needed to maintain connectivity in a leader-follower multi-agent network with proximity based communication topology. The paper extends the one-dimensional results of [2] to the two dimensional case. In the scenario we consider, only the leaders are aware of the global mission, which is to converge to a known destination point. Thus, the objective of the leaders is to drag the team to the desired goal. In the paper we obtain bounds on the number of leaders needed to complete the task. The results are first established for an initially complete communication graph and then extended to the incomplete case. Computer simulations support the derived theory.