Broadcast UAV Swarm Control With Predefined Collision-Free Flight Paths
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems controlling swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles require multiple radio controllers, leading to high bandwidth usage and synchronization challenges, and each vehicle must know the position of every other vehicle to avoid collisions.
Innovation Solution
A single controller broadcasts commands to all unmanned aerial vehicles, which store predefined flight plans and operate based on received commands, ensuring unique spatial coordinates at different times to prevent collisions and allowing for choreographed flight paths.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If multiple radio controllers are used to control each vehicle in the swarm, then each vehicle can be controlled individually, but the bandwidth requirement increases significantly and synchronization becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple radio controllers are merged into a single controller that broadcasts commands to all vehicles simultaneously. This consolidation reduces the total bandwidth requirement while maintaining individual vehicle control capability through predefined flight plans stored in each vehicle's memory.
Solution Approach 2:
Flight plans are pre-stored in the memory of each vehicle before flight operations. When a broadcast command is received, each vehicle retrieves and executes its corresponding pre-planned flight path, eliminating the need for real-time individual control signals and reducing bandwidth requirements.
2Ease of operation
If multiple radio controllers are used to control each vehicle in the swarm, then each vehicle can be controlled independently, but synchronization of commands across vehicles becomes challenging
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple controllers are merged into one centralized broadcast system that sends synchronized commands to all vehicles simultaneously. This eliminates the synchronization delays and coordination issues inherent in multiple independent controllers.
Solution Approach 2:
Flight plans are pre-programmed with synchronized timing information. When a broadcast command is received, all vehicles execute their pre-planned maneuvers at the same time, ensuring synchronized swarm behavior without requiring complex real-time coordination.
3Reliability
If each vehicle knows the position of every other vehicle, then collision avoidance is achieved, but the system complexity and communication requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
Collision avoidance is achieved through pre-planned flight paths that are designed to be spatially separated. Each vehicle's memory contains flight plans that inherently avoid overlapping trajectories, eliminating the need for real-time position tracking and complex inter-vehicle communication.
Solution Approach 2:
Each vehicle independently executes its pre-stored flight plan without needing to know the positions of other vehicles. The collision avoidance function is self-service through predefined safe trajectories, reducing system complexity while maintaining safety.
Data Source
AI summary
A system comprising, a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles and a single controller for controlling said plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles, wherein the single controller is configured such that it can broadcast a command to all of the plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles so that each of the plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles receive the same command; and wherein each of the unmanned aerial vehicles comprise a memory which stores a plurality of predefined flight paths each of which is assigned to a respective command; and wherein each of the unmanned aerial vehicles comprise a processor which can, (i) receive a command which has been broadcasted by the single controller to said plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles, (ii) retrieve from the memory of that aerial vehicle the flight path which is assigned in the memory to that command, and (iii) operate the aerial vehicle to follow the retrieved flight path. There is further provided a corresponding method of controlling a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles.