A flock of indoor uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) is helping engineers develop smart swarming strategies for larger autonomous surveillance aircraft.
The multiple-rotor radio-controlled aircraft provide a simple and cheap way to test out strategies before they are scaled-up for real world use.
鈥淲e鈥檙e focusing on persistent surveillance,鈥� says project leader Jonathan How at MIT in the US. 鈥淭his would be useful for, say, convoy protection.鈥� His team is working in collaboration with Phantom Works, the research and development arm of Boeing.
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How says a swarm of surveillance UAVs could keep watch over a convoy, taking turns to land on one of the trucks for refuelling. They would work together to ensure complete surveillance of the area around the convoy.
Ground tracking
In the indoor tests, up to five radio-controlled helicopters are being used to collaboratively track small ground vehicles and land on the back of small moving platforms.
A video shows (wmv format), while using a camera to lock onto the target and landing pad.
In another experiment, each UAV was programmed to automatically land on a stationary recharging station when running low on battery power. Another video shows . The UAVs automatically take turns tracking the target at low altitude.
Each UAV is controlled remotely by its own computer, which receives general instructions from a single central machine. The exact position of the vehicles is monitored by a system of six video cameras positioned around the test arena.
Rapid prototyping
The central computer uses positioning information to decide on objectives for each of the aircraft. 鈥淭his is a kind of rapid prototyping system for UAV cooperation experiments,鈥� How explains. 鈥淲e can plan a mission in the morning and do it in the afternoon.鈥� By contrast, an outdoors experiment involving large UAVs would take days or weeks to plan, he says.
鈥淭his system is at an early stage, but clearly works well,鈥� says Kenneth Munson, editor of the defence industry publication Jane鈥檚 UAVs and Targets. Munson believes the strategies devised by the MIT team could well be applied to defending an air base, providing other air traffic is well tracked.
But he is less sure about long-term missions, far away from base. 鈥淭here have been problems in Iraq with UAVs operating in the same areas as other aircraft, like Apache helicopters,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檇 like to know what happens if something else flies into this system鈥檚 airspace.鈥�
