Realizing Large-Scale and Fully Autonomous UAV Swarms

Rapid advances in low-power processors, miniaturized sensors, low-cost manufacturing systems, and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms are transforming the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) landscape worldwide. With the advent of low-cost UAVs, we are already witnessing early attempts at the development of fully autonomous swarms, where multiple UAVs collaborate and coordinate among themselves to autonomously map and navigate complex and uncertain environments, exhibiting emergent behavior. Notwithstanding the promise of such large-scale swarm systems, several research problems remain to be completely addressed. These include need for a locally sourced platform, an end-to-end autopilot software, capability to deal with dynamic and uncertain environments, robust and persistent communications, and GPS-free operation. This project aims to resolve all of these issues simultaneously, culminating in the development of a truly autonomous and intelligent multi-UAV swarm with self-learning capabilities.