With the development of drone technology, devices are increasingly used for various purposes, whether it is image capturing, combat operations and food delivery. Inexpensive drones are also widely used, especially in daring research projects to observe animal life or monitor the environment. Associate Professor Aaron Becker of the University of Houston is developing a project to improve the algorithm used in drone swarms (Drone Swarms), allowing imitation of the movements of birds and fish.

A drone swarm is hundreds of low-cost drones controlled in a coordinated manner from a single controller. University of Houston research is led by Becker, along with David Jackson, professor of electrical and computer engineering; Julien Leclerc, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering; and Daniel Onofri, Associate Professor of Mathematics. According to the researchers, the goal is to improve the drone swarm technology algorithm and allow coordinated control of hundreds of drones based on the behavior of flocks of birds and schools of fish.

Drone swarm action will not be scheduled

The movements of the swarm will not be pre-programmed, but will be based on the movements of the animals, Becker said. “These movements are not pre-programmed, but are based on local decisions of individual birds or fish.” The researcher claims that the technology currently being used relies on computation and simple logic, such as “don’t crash into the drone next door.” In his opinion, drone swarms should respond more flexibly to changes in the environment. “Our goal is to use drone computing to make intelligent decisions on the spot, transfer this information to the operator’s computer to get a clear view and allow the human operator to make high-level decisions.“.

The study received a $1.7 million grant from Northeastern University’s Costas Research Institute, LLC, and will be conducted in two scenarios. In the first, the drones will perform aerial wildfire detection, in which the swarm must track the fire and relay messages to the firefighters. In the second, drones will escort vehicles entering and leaving the university campus. A the intention is to test the swarm technology in two unpredictable scenarios, project efficiency analysis.

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Source: Drone Life, University of Houston.

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