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

Abstract

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.

Data Delivery in a Disaster or Quarantined Area Divided into Triangles Using DTN-Based Algorithms for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

“…There are three map types, as was mentioned in [ 41 ], metric, topological, and hybrid maps. A metric map is represented as a grid, geometric, or feature map [ 37 ]. Topological maps are represented by graphs comprised of nodes and edges, where nodes represent places, and edges represent the path between nodes [ 37 , 41 ].…”

“…A metric map is represented as a grid, geometric, or feature map [ 37 ]. Topological maps are represented by graphs comprised of nodes and edges, where nodes represent places, and edges represent the path between nodes [ 37 , 41 ]. A hybrid map consists of small metric map places in nodes, connected by edges that are the paths between metric maps [ 37 ].…”

“…Meteorology [27] Obtain information about near-surface thermodynamic fields No [28] Measure the temperature and relative humidity No [29] Measure the wind speed and wind direction No Rescue mission [37] UAVs perform the building and exploration of a honeycomb map Yes Communications [30] Investigate the UAV-based air-to-ground-radio vortex wireless networks Yes [31] Routing in a vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) Yes…”

“…The UAVs with their flexibility are popular and have gained importance within many applications across many domains such as atmospheric sciences [ 27 , 28 , 29 ], communications [ 26 , 30 , 31 , 32 ], transportation (delivery) [ 33 , 34 ], agriculture [ 35 ], cartography [ 36 ], rescue missions [ 37 ], etc. The UAV applications are summarized in Table 1 , which shows whether the UAVs are grouped into networks.…”

“…Using UAV networks, a large area can be covered. Rosa et al proposed a space mapping method using a topological map as a collection of hexagons; each hexagon can hold a maximum of one UAV [ 37 ]. The simulations in different scenarios show possible applications of this method for indoor rescue missions.…”