A Modular Communication Architecture for Adaptive UAV Swarms
Keyvan Shahin, Randolf Rotta, Oscar F. Archila, Pavlo Mykytyn, Matthias Nattke, Marc Reichenbach, Jörg Nolte, R. Natarov · 2023
Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have vast application potential from industrial logistics and disaster monitoring to smart farming, for example, to create maps with Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) cameras and AI-based image classification or the precision spot application of fertilizers. Operating multiple UAVs in parallel, including those with different specializations, enables efficient coverage of large areas. While existing research focused mainly on predefined flight formations for swarms or autonomous missions for single UAVs, the focus of this work is on multiple UAVs with individually adaptable missions. We derive communication system requirements from swarm coordination algorithms and present a respective design. The resulting modular architecture enables future research on autonomous adaptive UAV swarms and their use as flying sensor platforms.