scholarly journals Honeycomb Map: A Bioinspired Topological Map for Indoor Search and Rescue Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 907 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo da Rosa ◽  
Marco Aurelio Wehrmeister ◽  
Thadeu Brito ◽  
José Luís Lima ◽  
Ana Isabel Pinheiro Nunes Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Search And Rescue ◽  
Data Types ◽  
Topological Map ◽  
Exploration Time ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Time And Energy

The use of robots to map disaster-stricken environments can prevent rescuers from being harmed when exploring an unknown space. In addition, mapping a multi-robot environment can help these teams plan their actions with prior knowledge. The present work proposes the use of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the construction of a topological map inspired by the way that bees build their hives. A UAV can map a honeycomb only if it is adjacent to a known one. Different metrics to choose the honeycomb to be explored were applied. At the same time, as UAVs scan honeycomb adjacencies, RGB-D and thermal sensors capture other data types, and then generate a 3D view of the space and images of spaces where there may be fire spots, respectively. Simulations in different environments showed that the choice of metric and variation in the number of UAVs influence the number of performed displacements in the environment, consequently affecting exploration time and energy use.

scholarly journals Fish-Inspired Task Allocation Algorithm for Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Search and Rescue Missions

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Amjaad Alhaqbani ◽  
Heba Kurdi ◽  
Kamal Youcef-Toumi
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Task Allocation ◽  
Optimal Allocation ◽  
Search And Rescue ◽  
Fleet Size ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Hostile Environments ◽  
Rescue Time ◽  
Multi Uav

The challenge concerning the optimal allocation of tasks across multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (multi-UAVs) has significantly spurred research interest due to its contribution to the success of various fleet missions. This challenge becomes more complex in time-constrained missions, particularly if they are conducted in hostile environments, such as search and rescue (SAR) missions. In this study, a novel fish-inspired algorithm for multi-UAV missions (FIAM) for task allocation is proposed, which was inspired by the adaptive schooling and foraging behaviors of fish. FIAM shows that UAVs in an SAR mission can be similarly programmed to aggregate in groups to swiftly survey disaster areas and rescue-discovered survivors. FIAM’s performance was compared with three long-standing multi-UAV task allocation (MUTA) paradigms, namely, opportunistic task allocation scheme (OTA), auction-based scheme, and ant-colony optimization (ACO). Furthermore, the proposed algorithm was also compared with the recently proposed locust-inspired algorithm for MUTA problem (LIAM). The experimental results demonstrated FIAM’s abilities to maintain a steady running time and a decreasing mean rescue time with a substantially increasing percentage of rescued survivors. For instance, FIAM successfully rescued 100% of the survivors with merely 16 UAVs, for scenarios of no more than eight survivors, whereas LIAM, Auction, ACO and OTA rescued a maximum of 75%, 50%, 35% and 35%, respectively, for the same scenarios. This superiority of FIAM performance was maintained under a different fleet size and number of survivors, demonstrating the approach’s flexibility and scalability.

scholarly journals Adaptive Human-Robot Interactions for Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Robotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Yixiang Lim ◽  
Nichakorn Pongsarkornsathien ◽  
Alessandro Gardi ◽  
Roberto Sabatini ◽  
Trevor Kistan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Simulation Environment ◽  
Adaptive Automation ◽  
Cognitive States ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Machine Interface ◽  
Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Online Adaptation ◽  
Adaptation Phase

Advances in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) have paved the way for progressively higher levels of intelligence and autonomy, supporting new modes of operation, such as the one-to-many (OTM) concept, where a single human operator is responsible for monitoring and coordinating the tasks of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This paper presents the development and evaluation of cognitive human-machine interfaces and interactions (CHMI2) supporting adaptive automation in OTM applications. A CHMI2 system comprises a network of neurophysiological sensors and machine-learning based models for inferring user cognitive states, as well as the adaptation engine containing a set of transition logics for control/display functions and discrete autonomy levels. Models of the user’s cognitive states are trained on past performance and neurophysiological data during an offline calibration phase, and subsequently used in the online adaptation phase for real-time inference of these cognitive states. To investigate adaptive automation in OTM applications, a scenario involving bushfire detection was developed where a single human operator is responsible for tasking multiple UAV platforms to search for and localize bushfires over a wide area. We present the architecture and design of the UAS simulation environment that was developed, together with various human-machine interface (HMI) formats and functions, to evaluate the CHMI2 system’s feasibility through human-in-the-loop (HITL) experiments. The CHMI2 module was subsequently integrated into the simulation environment, providing the sensing, inference, and adaptation capabilities needed to realise adaptive automation. HITL experiments were performed to verify the CHMI2 module’s functionalities in the offline calibration and online adaptation phases. In particular, results from the online adaptation phase showed that the system was able to support real-time inference and human-machine interface and interaction (HMI2) adaptation. However, the accuracy of the inferred workload was variable across the different participants (with a root mean squared error (RMSE) ranging from 0.2 to 0.6), partly due to the reduced number of neurophysiological features available as real-time inputs and also due to limited training stages in the offline calibration phase. To improve the performance of the system, future work will investigate the use of alternative machine learning techniques, additional neurophysiological input features, and a more extensive training stage.

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