Visual-Based SLAM Configurations for Cooperative Multi-UAV Systems with a Lead Agent: An Observability-Based Approach

Abstract

In this work, the problem of the cooperative visual-based SLAM for the class of multi-UA systems that integrates a lead agent has been addressed. In these kinds of systems, a team of aerial robots flying in formation must follow a dynamic lead agent, which can be another aerial robot, vehicle or even a human. A fundamental problem that must be addressed for these kinds of systems has to do with the estimation of the states of the aerial robots as well as the state of the lead agent. In this work, the use of a cooperative visual-based SLAM approach is studied in order to solve the above problem. In this case, three different system configurations are proposed and investigated by means of an intensive nonlinear observability analysis. In addition, a high-level control scheme is proposed that allows to control the formation of the UAVs with respect to the lead agent. In this work, several theoretical results are obtained, together with an extensive set of computer simulations which are presented in order to numerically validate the proposal and to show that it can perform well under different circumstances (e.g., GPS-challenging environments). That is, the proposed method is able to operate robustly under many conditions providing a good position estimation of the aerial vehicles and the lead agent as well.

IHBO_CA: an improved honey-badger optimization-based communication approach for energy-efficient deployment of secure flying ad-hoc network (FANET)

“…The information about message transmission paths among UAVs was previously determined; so this information was used by GeoSaW to evaluate the future movement paths and future path data was interchanged among all neighboring UAVs over FANET. The GeoSaW protocol was run over The ONE (The Opportunistic Network Environment) software to evaluate the best quality performance of GeoSaW under the metric packet delivery ratio, overhead ratio and latency [36,37].…”

UAV-Based Structural Damage Mapping: A Review

“…There has been a surge in research on UAV-based indoor mapping, both with single platforms and swarms. Most make use of visual SLAM to map their GPS-denied environment (e.g., [86,87]), or focusing on continuity mapping when transiting between outdoor and indoor places [88]. Others have experimented with localizing via sensors such as ultrasound [89], and the works cited in 4.2 on autonomous navigation and mapping are also relevant here.…”

Uav-Based Structural Damage Mapping – Results From 6 Years Of Research in Two European Projects

“…(iv) in recent years there has been a surge in research on UAV-based indoor mapping, both with single platforms and swarms. Most make use of visual SLAM to map their GPS-denied environment (e.g., Bavle et al 2018, Trujillo et al 2018, or focusing on continuity mapping when transiting between outdoor and indoor places (Zhang et al 2015). Others have experimented with localizing via sensors such as ultrasound (Paredes et al 2018).…”