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Signal-Based Self-Organization of a Chain of UAVs for Subterranean Exploration

Miniature multi-rotors are promising robots for navigating subterranean networks, but maintaining a radio connection underground is challenging. In this paper, we introduce a distributed algorithm, called U-Chain (for Underground-chain), that coordinates a chain of flying robots between an explorati...

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Autores principales: Laclau, Pierre, Tempez, Vladislav, Ruffier, Franck, Natalizio, Enrico, Mouret, Jean-Baptiste
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8103032/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33969000
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2021.614206
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author Laclau, Pierre
Tempez, Vladislav
Ruffier, Franck
Natalizio, Enrico
Mouret, Jean-Baptiste
author_facet Laclau, Pierre
Tempez, Vladislav
Ruffier, Franck
Natalizio, Enrico
Mouret, Jean-Baptiste
author_sort Laclau, Pierre
collection PubMed
description Miniature multi-rotors are promising robots for navigating subterranean networks, but maintaining a radio connection underground is challenging. In this paper, we introduce a distributed algorithm, called U-Chain (for Underground-chain), that coordinates a chain of flying robots between an exploration drone and an operator. Our algorithm only uses the measurement of the signal quality between two successive robots and an estimate of the ground speed based on an optic flow sensor. It leverages a distributed policy for each UAV and a Kalman filter to get reliable estimates of the signal quality. We evaluate our approach formally and in simulation, and we describe experimental results with a chain of 3 real miniature quadrotors (12 by 12 cm) and a base station.
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spelling pubmed-81030322021-05-08 Signal-Based Self-Organization of a Chain of UAVs for Subterranean Exploration Laclau, Pierre Tempez, Vladislav Ruffier, Franck Natalizio, Enrico Mouret, Jean-Baptiste Front Robot AI Robotics and AI Miniature multi-rotors are promising robots for navigating subterranean networks, but maintaining a radio connection underground is challenging. In this paper, we introduce a distributed algorithm, called U-Chain (for Underground-chain), that coordinates a chain of flying robots between an exploration drone and an operator. Our algorithm only uses the measurement of the signal quality between two successive robots and an estimate of the ground speed based on an optic flow sensor. It leverages a distributed policy for each UAV and a Kalman filter to get reliable estimates of the signal quality. We evaluate our approach formally and in simulation, and we describe experimental results with a chain of 3 real miniature quadrotors (12 by 12 cm) and a base station. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-04-23 /pmc/articles/PMC8103032/ /pubmed/33969000 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2021.614206 Text en Copyright © 2021 Laclau, Tempez, Ruffier, Natalizio and Mouret. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Robotics and AI
Laclau, Pierre
Tempez, Vladislav
Ruffier, Franck
Natalizio, Enrico
Mouret, Jean-Baptiste
Signal-Based Self-Organization of a Chain of UAVs for Subterranean Exploration
title Signal-Based Self-Organization of a Chain of UAVs for Subterranean Exploration
title_full Signal-Based Self-Organization of a Chain of UAVs for Subterranean Exploration
title_fullStr Signal-Based Self-Organization of a Chain of UAVs for Subterranean Exploration
title_full_unstemmed Signal-Based Self-Organization of a Chain of UAVs for Subterranean Exploration
title_short Signal-Based Self-Organization of a Chain of UAVs for Subterranean Exploration
title_sort signal-based self-organization of a chain of uavs for subterranean exploration
topic Robotics and AI
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8103032/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33969000
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2021.614206
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