System for deployment of groups of unmanned micro aerial vehicles in GPS-denied environments using onboard visual relative localization

A complex system for control of swarms of micro aerial vehicles (MAV), in literature also called as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or unmanned aerial systems (UAS), stabilized via an onboard visual relative localization is described in this paper. The main purpose of this work is to verify the possibility of self-stabilization of multi-MAV groups without an external global positioning system. This approach enables the deployment of MAV swarms outside laboratory conditions, and it may be considered an enabling technique for utilizing fleets of MAVs in real-world scenarios. The proposed visual-based stabilization approach has been designed for numerous different multi-UAV robotic applications (leader-follower UAV formation stabilization, UAV swarm stabilization and deployment in surveillance scenarios, cooperative UAV sensory measurement) in this paper. Deployment of the system in real-world scenarios truthfully verifies its operational constraints, given by limited onboard sensing suites and processing capabilities. The performance of the presented approach (MAV control, motion planning, MAV stabilization, and trajectory planning) in multi-MAV applications has been validated by experimental results in indoor as well as in challenging outdoor environments (e.g., in windy conditions and in a former pit mine)

Development of micro UAV swarms

Some complex application scenarios for micro UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) call for the formation of swarms of multiple drones. In this paper a platform for the creation of such swarms is presented. It consists of modified commercial quadrocopters and a self-made ground control station software architecture. Autonomy of individual drones is generated through a micro controller equipped video camera. Currently it is possible to fly basic maneuvers autonomously, such as take-off, fly to position, and landing. In the future the camera's image processing capabilities will be used to generate additional control information. Different co-operation strategies for teams of UAVs are currently evaluated with an agent based simulation tool. Finally complex application scenarios for multiple micro UAVs are presented