A modular simulation environment for multiple UAVs with virtual WiFi and sensing capability

Experiments with real unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) need considerable preparation, raise safety concerns, often require official flight permissions by authorities, and can be very costly in case of hardware or software malfunctions. Therefore, simulation is an attractive alternative for performing first tests before going out in the field. This paper presents AeroLoop, a modular simulation environment that combines mature simulation and virtualization technologies into a single system for conducting application experiments with multiple virtual UAVs (vUAVs). Besides the flight behavior of each vUAV, AeroLoop supports simulated wireless communication between them. Also, each vUAV has a virtual camera sensor that can be used to take vertical snapshots during the flight. We discuss key design and implementation aspects of the AeroLoop system, and provide a functional evaluation of the main simulation components. © 2018 IEEE