Deploying the max-sum algorithm for decentralised coordination and task allocation of unmanned aerial vehicles for live aerial imagery collection
OA Location
Author(s)
Fave, FMD
Rogers, A
Xu, Z
Sukkarieh, S
Jennings, N
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
We introduce a new technique for coordinating teams of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) when deployed to collect live aerial imagery of the scene of a disaster. We define this problem as one of task assignment where the UAVs dynamically coordinate over tasks representing the imagery collection requests. To measure the quality of the assignment of one or more UAVs to a task, we propose a novel utility function which encompasses several constraints, such as the task's importance and the UAVs' battery capacity so as to maximise performance. We then solve the resulting optimisation problem using a fully asynchronous and decentralised implementation of the max-sum algorithm, a well known message passing algorithm previously used only in simulated domains. Finally, we evaluate our approach both in simulation and on real hardware. First, we empirically evaluate our utility and show that it yields a better trade off between the quantity and quality of completed tasks than similar utilities that do not take all the constraints into account. Second, we deploy it on two hexacopters and assess its practical viability in the real world.
Date Issued
2012-05-14
Date Acceptance
2012-05-14
Citation
Proceedings of the 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2012, pp.469-476
ISBN
978-1-4673-1403-9
ISSN
1050-4729
Publisher
IEEE
Start Page
469
End Page
476
Journal / Book Title
Proceedings of the 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Copyright Statement
© 2012 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.
Identifier
http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/273089/
Source
2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Subjects
Science & Technology
Technology
Automation & Control Systems
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Robotics
Engineering
UAVS
Publication Status
Published
Start Date
2012-05-14
Finish Date
2012-05-18
Coverage Spatial
Saint Paul, MN, USA