A new approach to circle formation in multi-agent systems

A number of studies on circle formation make unrealistic assumptions in addition to be ad hoc or heuristic in their approaches, such as global view of the field and using points or transparent agents to avoid dealing with the collision problem. Also, limited research exists on distributing the agents uniformly and elegantly on a circle using localized communication. This study presents a more formal approach in which agents uniformly distribute themselves on the circle from any initial positions in a field. The proposed approach assumes the realistic assumptions that the agents have a limited communication range and are mass (fat) agents. Each agent autonomously experiences three phases: 1) decides on the center and size of the circle, 2) travels toward the circle while avoiding collisions, 3) forms a uniform distribution while staying on the circle and avoiding collisions. The research will also present some preliminary simulation results.