砂漠探査のための最小限な3D自己組織化UAV群飛行アプローチ
A Minimalistic 3D Self-Organized UAV Flocking Approach for Desert Exploration
UAV群が方向情報の交換なしに、搭載センサのみで相対距離と方位を利用して整列・凝集した群飛行を実現する手法を提案し、9機の実機実験でGNSS非依存環境での有効性を示した。
著者: Thulio Amorim, Tiago Nascimento, Akash Chaudhary, Eliseo Ferrante, Martin Saska
分類: cs.RO
原文アブストラクト
In this work, we propose a minimalistic swarm flocking approach for multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Our approach allows the swarm to achieve cohesively and aligned flocking (collective motion), in a random direction, without externally provided directional information exchange (alignment control). The method relies on minimalistic sensory requirements as it uses only the relative range and bearing of swarm agents in local proximity obtained through onboard sensors on the UAV. Thus, our method is able to stabilize and control the flock of a general shape above a steep terrain without any explicit communication between swarm members. To implement proximal control in a three-dimensional manner, the Lennard-Jones potential function is used to maintain cohesiveness and avoid collisions between robots. The performance of the proposed approach was tested in real-world conditions by experiments with a team of nine UAVs. Experiments also present the usage of our approach on UAVs that are independent of external positioning systems such as the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). Relying only on a relative visual localization through the ultraviolet direction and ranging (UVDAR) system, previously proposed by our group, the experiments verify that our system can be applied in GNSS-denied environments. The degree achieved of alignment and cohesiveness was evaluated using the metrics of order and steady-state value.
