Self-organized Chain Formation of Nano-Drones in an Open Space

Agata Barciś, Michał Barciś, Enrico Natalizio, Eliseo Ferrante

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

We propose a method for the chain formation of multiple agents in an open space. Chaining can be considered as a building block for several application scenarios, including exploration, maintaining connectivity, or path formation. The proposed method was designed for a very sensing and computationally constrained robot platform, more specifically for nano-drones as they offer advantages in applications in tight spaces or in the proximity of people. To enable portability to a real platform, the method relies on a range and bearing sensing model with a limited field of view that is susceptible to occlusions, which was implemented both in simulation as well as on the real robot through a camera coupled with LEDs. We analyze the method in the simulation-based study. We show that the method works even in presence of noise in sensing and actuation, which rather than being harmful to the chaining performance has a positive effect. We analyze the performance in terms of quality of final chain formation, and speed of convergence, and how these two are affected by increasing swarm size. Finally, we present its practical feasibility in a robotic proof-of-concept featuring nano-drones.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationSwarm Intelligence - 13th International Conference, ANTS 2022, Proceedings
EditorsMarco Dorigo, Volker Strobel, Christian Camacho-Villalón, Heiko Hamann, Heiko Hamann, Manuel López-Ibáñez, José García-Nieto, Andries Engelbrecht, Carlo Pinciroli
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages222-233
Number of pages12
ISBN (Print)9783031201752
DOIs
StatePublished - 2022
Event13th International Conference on Swarm Intelligence, ANTS 2022 - Malaga, Spain
Duration: Nov 2 2022Nov 4 2022

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume13491 LNCS
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference13th International Conference on Swarm Intelligence, ANTS 2022
Country/TerritorySpain
CityMalaga
Period11/2/2211/4/22

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Theoretical Computer Science
  • General Computer Science

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