Using multi-UAV for rescue environment mapping: task planning optimization approach

• Main Author: Rosa, Ricardo
• Publication Date: 2021
• Other Authors: Brito, Thadeu, Pereira, Ana I., Lima, José, Wehrmeister, Marco A.
• Language: eng
• Source: Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)
• Download full: http://hdl.handle.net/10198/24649
• topic: Unmanned aerial vehicles; Multiple UAV; Collaborative environment mapping; Path planning

Rescuing survivors in unknown environment can be extreme difficulty. The use of UAVs to map the environment and also to obtain remote information can benefit the rescue tasks. This paper proposes an organizational system for multi-UAVs to map indoor environments that have been affected by a natural disaster. The robot’s organization is focused on avoiding possible collisions between swarm’s members, and also to prevent searching in locations that have already discovered. This organizational approach is inspired by bees behavior. Thus, the multi- UAVs must search, in a collaborative way, in order to map the scenario in the shortest possible time and, consequently, to travel the shortest reasonable distance. Therefore, three strategies were evaluated in a simulation scenario created in the V-REP software. The results indicate the feasibility of the proposed approach and compare the three plans based on the number of locations discovered and the path taken by each UAV.