41 UAVs indicate when they’re in a suitable location during placement in the grid, and the GCS software automatically checks flight readiness and placement. This makes it easier to swap out any UAV that is not ready for flight. All of the UAVs coordinate with the global database to synchronise maintenance schedules and perform software updates, enabling processes such as replacing motors and batteries to happen wirelessly. This gives two people just 45 minutes to set up and fly 100 UAVs. Autonomous swarms Multi-UAV is an operation where multiple aircraft fly in the same airspace. In such missions, multiple UASs are operated from a GCS, where one or multiple users command and monitor the flight. Adapting the flight-control system on the UAV allows the sharing of state information between the aircraft and the GCS. This needs to combine the status data of every aircraft during the multiUAV operation with the traffic-display capabilities and automatic collision avoidance algorithms during the swarming operation to create a co-operative framework. One important thing is that the objectives of the swarm vary significantly between different users and from mission to mission, so the key technology that goes into the autopilot of a UAV is to have all the elements in a modular framework. For swarm operation, the autonomous aircraft do not rely on a continuous connection to the GCS, but are coordinating their position in space, and avoiding other aircraft within the swarm and out of the swarm. This can be for quadcopters in a relatively small area of a few square kilometres, or for larger aircraft that could be separated by hundreds of kilometres. Every swarm needs customisation for integrators and users to introduce their thinking into the system, and the mission-control computer (MCC) in the UAV has evolved to support swarm logic. As these requirements are evolving rapidly, the design of the MCC must adapt quickly. The radio connectivity needs to be technology agnostic, as this could be cellular 4G or 5G, a local link or a satellite link for longer distances. However, a common theme is to reduce the data-throughput requirements of the link to allow more UAVs to operate in a single swarm. However, swarms can be linked via the GCS. Linking back to the GCS and then to another GCS with another swarm can extend the whole operation across a wider area. Within the swarm, the autopilot in the UAV runs a coordination algorithm that allows for both complete and distributed operation. Each vehicle can have the flight plan for the whole swarm, or its own portion of the plan. The aircraft coordinate via specific checkpoints within the mission to synchronise the operation, and these checkpoints are automatically generated by the MCC. This allows an operator on the ground to provide a single command to the system, and from that point the rest Swarming | Focus For swarm operation, the autonomous aircraft do not rely on a continuous connection to the GCS, but are coordinating their position in space Uncrewed Systems Technology | February/March 2025 A UAV swarm for a light show (Image courtesy of Verge Aero)
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