Unmanned Systems Technology 038 l Skyeton Raybird-3 l Data storage l Sea-Kit X-Class USV l USVs insight l Spectronik PEM fuel cells l Blue White Robotics UVIO l Antennas l AUVSI Xponential Virtual 2021 report

UAV Factory Engineers at the EPFL in Switzerland have developed a predictive control model that allows swarms of UAVs to fly in cluttered environments (writes Nick Flaherty). In tests, a swarm of five quadrotor UAVs were able to navigate in a real- world indoor environment populated with obstacles. The control model improved the UAVs’ speed, order and safety. One reason why UAV swarms haven’t been used more widely is the risk of gridlock within the swarm. Most algorithms tend to coordinate the movements of one UAV with the others in the swarm, adjusting the trajectory to keep a safe distance or to travel in alignment. When one UAV changes its trajectory to avoid an obstacle, its neighbours automatically synchronise their movements accordingly. However, that causes the swarm to slow down, generates gridlock within the swarm and can even lead to collisions elsewhere in the swarm. The model works by programming in locally controlled, simple rules, such as a minimum inter-UAV separation, a set velocity to keep or a specific direction to follow. “It gives UAV swarms the ability to determine when a neighbour is about to slow down, meaning the slowdown has less of an effect on their own flight,” said EPFL engineer Enrica Soria. Predictive swarm system Airborne vehicles EPFL’s control model enables UAV swarms to depend far less on commands from a central computer Maximum payload capacity of 7.2 kg Assemble in only 15 minutes Reliable EFI engine Flight endurance of over 8 hours PENGUIN B VTOL PLATFORM GET MORE INFORMATION AT WWW.UAVFACTORY.COM Long endurance VTOL unmanned aircraft for system integrators