A novel LAPN algorithm based path navigation approach for autonomous agents

Abstract This paper discusses multi-agent path navigation in unknown environments. It is a challenging task to design an effective communication-based algorithm with minimal error, which would ensure secure navigation of multi-agent paths under complex circumstances, reduce the length of the travelled path, and minimize the runtime. A leader agent path navigation (LAPN) algorithm is proposed in this paper for multi-agent communication. The obstacle avoidance mechanism is used in the first part of the algorithm. The execution time of the algorithm is influenced by the process of leader-to-follower path update, since the updating process determines how quickly the followers receive corrected trajectories. One leader and two follower agents were considered in simulation environments to establish the feasibility of the algorithm. The LAPN algorithm achieves an average percentage deviation, calculated as the relative difference from the ideal straight-line path of 2.82% in travel time and 31% in path length, showing satisfactory navigation efficiency under obstacle-constrained conditions.