BACKGROUND
Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) can be deployed as tactical swarms that coordinate autonomously for military operations, creating a need to hide vehicular activity for positive mission outcomes. Formation patterns and coordinated movement can make UAS swarms easier to identify as suspicious. Additionally, GPS dependencies make current solutions cost-prohibitive with significant infrastructure requirements, and Radio Frequency (RF) communication between systems can be susceptible to interference and tracking. These challenges also present higher computation needs, making it difficult to deploy UAS swarms in important operations. A method to achieve less easily predictable groups without the need for GPS or RF communication could be critical for successful UAS swarm deployment.
SUMMARY OF TECHNOLOGY
Researchers at Oklahoma State University have developed a method for handling motion coordination of large groups of agents, including robots, unmanned systems (aerial and ground), subsurface crafts, helicopters or any combinations thereof. This method provides a computationally efficient way to spread the sensing and communication loads which are otherwise unscalable with large groups. Each agent can identify a single other agent visually, creating a visual communication link and removing the need for any Radio Frequency (RF) communication. With an appropriate choice of agent, the underlying leader-follower pairs achieve motion synchronization without the need for absolute positional reference. The resulting motion seen does not see a strict formation convergence and achieves a less easily predictable group. Using this strategy, this method creates difficult to predict motion coordination without the need for GPS or RF communication links between agents, allowing for easier deployment of UAS swarms in critical military operations.
POTENTIAL AREAS OF APPLICATION
MAIN ADVANTAGES
STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT
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