Spatio-Temporal Reconnection for Multi-Robot Networks using Adaptive Prescribed-Time CBFs

2026-05-31

AI Summary

This work addresses the trade-off between task efficiency and communication connectivity in multi-robot systems, where enforcing persistent connectivity often degrades performance. To overcome this limitation, the paper proposes an adaptive prescribed-time control barrier function (PT-CBF) framework that permits temporary disconnections during task execution while guaranteeing autonomous reconnection within a tunable, finite time horizon. The approach integrates task progress and reconnection urgency into a unified triggering mechanism, enabling flexible spatiotemporal reconnection strategies. Theoretical analysis establishes convergence of the system to satisfy reconnection conditions within the prescribed time, and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method significantly enhances task efficiency without compromising reliable communication recovery.

Abstract

In multi-robot systems, maintaining persistent communication graph connectivity is often overly restrictive, especially when robots have limited communication ranges but operate in large environments. Instead, allowing robots to temporarily disconnect and later reconnect is often more desirable for efficient task execution while still ensuring timely information sharing across the team. In this paper, we propose an adaptive prescribed-time control barrier function (adaptive PT-CBF) framework that enables robots to temporarily disconnect and re-enter the communication range within an adjustable and feasible prescribed time. Moreover, we introduce a reconnection triggering mechanism that jointly considers task execution and reconnection urgency, thereby providing a principled way to decide when reconnection should occur. Theoretical analysis justifies convergence to the satisfying reconnection within a prescribed finite time. Experimental results validate the performance of our proposed adaptive PT-CBF with improved task efficiency and satisfying reconnections.

Problem

• multi-robot networks
• spatio-temporal reconnection
• communication connectivity
• prescribed-time control
• temporary disconnection

Innovation

• adaptive prescribed-time CBF
• spatio-temporal reconnection
• multi-robot networks
• connectivity maintenance
• reconnection triggering mechanism