Location

Nessmith-Lane Atrium

Session Format

Poster Presentation

Research Area Topic:

Engineering and Material Sciences - Electrical

Co-Presenters and Faculty Mentors or Advisors

Mohammad Ahad (Georgia Southern University)

Abstract

Swarm technology is a relatively new aspect to the drone industry. It involves multiple drones being able to communicate with each other and relay this back to the user. From this standpoint one operator can control all of them at once while only giving directions to one or more. This involves the use of different autonomous algorithms, similar to autopilot where programs fly the plane, that relay to one another on what adjustments to make or where to go. This idea is very useful in search and rescue operations where it might be too dangerous to insert a human. Also in operations that might involve the gathering of data from standpoints where we are less efficient than the robots.

The objective of this research is to find and implement two types of autonomous programs run in multiple Arduino controlled r/c cars. The first being a GPS inputted navigation system with collision avoidance (ColA). The GPS navigation is a system where the user inputs a set of coordinates into the program, the program runs, then the bot follows in the shortest path to that set of coordinates. The collision avoidance system is an algorithm that goes in place when an object is detected a certain distance from the car. Once detected the car will stop for a few seconds to see if the object moves. If the object doesn't move it will reverse its direction at a certain angle then proceed forward until there is no object blocking the path. The second being a follow behind the user function with ColA. The follow behind function is one bot that keeps a certain distance from the leader and maintains that distance throughout the entirety of the program.

The results of this project will be a small functional swarm of ground robots that can arrive at one designated location with little to no human input. Also the drones must figure out a way to get to the destination in the event one or both become compromised. Using the techniques found in the autonomous r/c cars and applying it to drones, which are much harder to control as opposed to ground vehicles, we will implement a similar type of swarm with multiple aerial vehicles in the future. Using this pack formation will be the precursor to swarm operations in data collection or search and rescue, also the possibility of aerial drone to ground drone swarm capabilities in the mapping of an area.

Keywords

Georgia Southern University, Research Symposium, Swarm capabilities, Swarm technology, Autonomous programs

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Presentation Type and Release Option

Presentation (Open Access)

Start Date

4-16-2016 2:45 PM

End Date

4-16-2016 4:00 PM

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Apr 16th, 2:45 PM Apr 16th, 4:00 PM

Autonomous Methods in the Application of Simple Swarm Capabilities

Nessmith-Lane Atrium

Swarm technology is a relatively new aspect to the drone industry. It involves multiple drones being able to communicate with each other and relay this back to the user. From this standpoint one operator can control all of them at once while only giving directions to one or more. This involves the use of different autonomous algorithms, similar to autopilot where programs fly the plane, that relay to one another on what adjustments to make or where to go. This idea is very useful in search and rescue operations where it might be too dangerous to insert a human. Also in operations that might involve the gathering of data from standpoints where we are less efficient than the robots.

The objective of this research is to find and implement two types of autonomous programs run in multiple Arduino controlled r/c cars. The first being a GPS inputted navigation system with collision avoidance (ColA). The GPS navigation is a system where the user inputs a set of coordinates into the program, the program runs, then the bot follows in the shortest path to that set of coordinates. The collision avoidance system is an algorithm that goes in place when an object is detected a certain distance from the car. Once detected the car will stop for a few seconds to see if the object moves. If the object doesn't move it will reverse its direction at a certain angle then proceed forward until there is no object blocking the path. The second being a follow behind the user function with ColA. The follow behind function is one bot that keeps a certain distance from the leader and maintains that distance throughout the entirety of the program.

The results of this project will be a small functional swarm of ground robots that can arrive at one designated location with little to no human input. Also the drones must figure out a way to get to the destination in the event one or both become compromised. Using the techniques found in the autonomous r/c cars and applying it to drones, which are much harder to control as opposed to ground vehicles, we will implement a similar type of swarm with multiple aerial vehicles in the future. Using this pack formation will be the precursor to swarm operations in data collection or search and rescue, also the possibility of aerial drone to ground drone swarm capabilities in the mapping of an area.