3D Trajectory Planning Method for UAVs Swarm in Building Emergencies

Abstract

The development in Multi-Robot Systems (MRS) has become one of the most exploited fields of research in robotics in recent years. This is due to the robustness and versatility they present to effectively undertake a set of tasks autonomously. One of the essential elements for several vehicles, in this case, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), to perform tasks autonomously and cooperatively is trajectory planning, which is necessary to guarantee the safe and collision-free movement of the different vehicles. This document includes the planning of multiple trajectories for a swarm of UAVs based on 3D Probabilistic Roadmaps (PRM). This swarm is capable of reaching different locations of interest in different cases (labeled and unlabeled), supporting of an Emergency Response Team (ERT) in emergencies in urban environments. In addition, an architecture based on Robot Operating System (ROS) is presented to allow the simulation and integration of the methods developed in a UAV swarm. This architecture allows the communications with the MavLink protocol and control via the Pixhawk autopilot, for a quick and easy implementation in real UAVs. The proposed method was validated by experiments simulating building emergences. Finally, the obtained results show that methods based on probability roadmaps create effective solutions in terms of calculation time in the case of scalable systems in different situations along with their integration into a versatile framework such as ROS.

UAV Swarm Intelligence: Recent Advances and Future Trends

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A Framework for Coverage Path Planning Optimization Based on Point Cloud for Structural Inspection

“…In this context, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) arose as a prominent solution to automate this process in a cost-effectively way. In addition, UAVs have positioned at the forefront of different application fields, such as infrastructure inspection [ 1 , 2 ], search and rescue [ 3 , 4 ], delivery [ 5 , 6 ], among others. In the scenario of large structures’ inspections, the UAV may help decrease the mission’s complexity, such as data gathering and geometry land specifications due to its maneuvering flexibility, high versatility, and the possibility of attaching new technologies into it [ 2 ].…”

Energy-Efficient Formation Morphing for Collision Avoidance in a Swarm of Drones

“…Swarms of drones have demand in vast and diverse application areas for instance in the military, commercial use, search and rescue, monitoring traffic, threat detection especially at borders, and atmospheric research purposes [4], [5]. Due to the ability to work in a collaborative manner in a 3dimensional space, research on optimal navigation of swarms is gaining even more attention in the research community [6].…”