UAV decision and control system
First Claim
1. A hierarchical multiple UAV decision and control system comprising two or more armed UAV'"'"'s dispatched onto a theater environment in order to search, detect and attack time-critical attack targets, and at least two of the following means:
- (i) flocking means based on a behavioral heuristic algorithm wherein said algorithm controls the velocity and heading of the UAV'"'"'s and is configured so that each UAV can calculate the required velocity and heading independently and each UAV communicates control information comprising flocking data with said UAV'"'"'s closest neighbors only;
(ii) wireless ad-hoc communications means between the UAV'"'"'s as follows;
for communicating attack target list and flocking information both from a root node of a tree comprising one of the UAVs, downstream towards other nodes comprising others of the UAVs in sub-trees depending from the root node and from each node upstream towards the root node;
the root node gathers task assignment and flocking data calculated by the UAVs in the root'"'"'s sub-trees, calculates global functions, task assignment and flocking data for the UAVs in the tree;
the root node distributes said global functions, task assignment and flocking data back to the UAVs in the root'"'"'s sub-trees;
in conditions where communication between the UAV'"'"'s is constantly disrupted due to dynamic changes in the field, the constant flow of upstream and downstream data improves the overall efficiency of the UAV'"'"'s in the tree; and
(iii) task assignment means configured so that each UAV, using a graph-theoretic approach, locates all detectable attack targets;
identifies said attack targets;
computes the distance to each of said attack targets; and
independently produces an attack plan based on system parameters, such that said attack plan optimizes the distances between said UAV'"'"'s to said attack targets.
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a hierarchical system and method for task assignment (TA), coordination and communication of multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (DAV'"'"'s) engaging multiple attack targets and conceives an ad-hoc routing algorithm for synchronization of target lists utilizing a distributed computing topology. Assuming limited communication bandwidth and range, coordination of UAV motion is achieved by implementing a simple behavioral flocking algorithm utilizing a tree topology for target list routing. The TA algorithm is based on a graph-theoretic approach, in which a node locates all the detectable targets, identifies them and computes its distance to each target. The node then produces an attack plan that minimizes the sum of distances of the UAV'"'"'s in the subtree of a given node to the targets.
37 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A hierarchical multiple UAV decision and control system comprising two or more armed UAV'"'"'s dispatched onto a theater environment in order to search, detect and attack time-critical attack targets, and at least two of the following means:
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(i) flocking means based on a behavioral heuristic algorithm wherein said algorithm controls the velocity and heading of the UAV'"'"'s and is configured so that each UAV can calculate the required velocity and heading independently and each UAV communicates control information comprising flocking data with said UAV'"'"'s closest neighbors only; (ii) wireless ad-hoc communications means between the UAV'"'"'s as follows;
for communicating attack target list and flocking information both from a root node of a tree comprising one of the UAVs, downstream towards other nodes comprising others of the UAVs in sub-trees depending from the root node and from each node upstream towards the root node;
the root node gathers task assignment and flocking data calculated by the UAVs in the root'"'"'s sub-trees, calculates global functions, task assignment and flocking data for the UAVs in the tree;
the root node distributes said global functions, task assignment and flocking data back to the UAVs in the root'"'"'s sub-trees;
in conditions where communication between the UAV'"'"'s is constantly disrupted due to dynamic changes in the field, the constant flow of upstream and downstream data improves the overall efficiency of the UAV'"'"'s in the tree; and(iii) task assignment means configured so that each UAV, using a graph-theoretic approach, locates all detectable attack targets;
identifies said attack targets;
computes the distance to each of said attack targets; and
independently produces an attack plan based on system parameters, such that said attack plan optimizes the distances between said UAV'"'"'s to said attack targets. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A wireless ad-hoc communications method for communicating between multiple UAV'"'"'s organized in a hierarchical decision tree structure, the method comprising the steps of:
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(i) communicating attack target list and flocking information both from the root downstream towards other nodes in the sub-trees and from each node upstream towards the root; (ii) gathering by the root node task assignment and flocking data calculated by the root'"'"'s sub-trees, calculating global functions, task assignment and flocking data for the tree; (iii) calculating global functions, task assignment and flocking data for the tree; (iv) distributing by the root node said global functions, task assignment and flocking data back to the root'"'"'s sub-trees; (v) improving the overall efficiency of the UAV'"'"'s in the tree in conditions where communication between the UAV'"'"'s is constantly disrupted due to dynamic changes in the field, by a constant flow of upstream and downstream data, wherein each UAV can calculate the required velocity and heading independently and each UAV communicates control information comprising flocking data with said UAV'"'"'s closest neighbors only.
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Specification