Decentralized Asynchronous Formation Planning of Multirotor Aerial Vehicles in Dynamic Environments Using Flexible Formation Graphs and Tight Trajectory Hulls

Formation flight holds significant potential for various applications involving aerial robot swarms. However, current methodologies lack the capability to autonomously execute large-scale formation flights in densely populated environments. To bridge the gap, a decentralized and asynchronous formati...

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Main Authors: Fahad Tanveer, Muhammad Bilal Kadri
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2024-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10506899/
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author Fahad Tanveer
Muhammad Bilal Kadri
author_facet Fahad Tanveer
Muhammad Bilal Kadri
author_sort Fahad Tanveer
collection DOAJ
description Formation flight holds significant potential for various applications involving aerial robot swarms. However, current methodologies lack the capability to autonomously execute large-scale formation flights in densely populated environments. To bridge the gap, a decentralized and asynchronous formation flight planner is proposed based on a graph-based formation metric and tight representations of kino-dynamically feasible trajectories for collision avoidance. The planner handles formation path planning along with dynamic obstacles and intervehicle collision avoidance using minimum volume convex hulls for agent trajectories. The employed formation metric is invariant to rotation, translation, and scaling, granting greater flexibility in formation coordination. A decoupled and distributed trajectory optimization framework is proposed to enhance the computational feasibility of large-scale formation flights. Moreover, to mitigate issues relating to communication delays between agents, asynchronous execution of a finite horizon navigation framework with usage of sparse trajectory control points for trajectory segments is employed. Simulations with multiple agents, static and dynamic obstacles support the robustness of the planner to formation flights in real world. The planner demonstrates goal/waypoints achievement and formation adherence capabilities that are assessed and compared using a popular quantifiable formation similarity metric. Furthermore, the paper also serves as a guideline to build upon trajectory planning frameworks for tight formation control in cluttered, dynamic environments.
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spelling doaj-art-c41edf2d43b84eb888f83fe7ecee46be2025-01-21T00:00:51ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362024-01-0112591485915810.1109/ACCESS.2024.339257710506899Decentralized Asynchronous Formation Planning of Multirotor Aerial Vehicles in Dynamic Environments Using Flexible Formation Graphs and Tight Trajectory HullsFahad Tanveer0Muhammad Bilal Kadri1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5485-3792Electronics Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Karachi Institute of Economics and Technology, Karachi, PakistanComputer Science Department, College of Computer and Information Sciences, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaFormation flight holds significant potential for various applications involving aerial robot swarms. However, current methodologies lack the capability to autonomously execute large-scale formation flights in densely populated environments. To bridge the gap, a decentralized and asynchronous formation flight planner is proposed based on a graph-based formation metric and tight representations of kino-dynamically feasible trajectories for collision avoidance. The planner handles formation path planning along with dynamic obstacles and intervehicle collision avoidance using minimum volume convex hulls for agent trajectories. The employed formation metric is invariant to rotation, translation, and scaling, granting greater flexibility in formation coordination. A decoupled and distributed trajectory optimization framework is proposed to enhance the computational feasibility of large-scale formation flights. Moreover, to mitigate issues relating to communication delays between agents, asynchronous execution of a finite horizon navigation framework with usage of sparse trajectory control points for trajectory segments is employed. Simulations with multiple agents, static and dynamic obstacles support the robustness of the planner to formation flights in real world. The planner demonstrates goal/waypoints achievement and formation adherence capabilities that are assessed and compared using a popular quantifiable formation similarity metric. Furthermore, the paper also serves as a guideline to build upon trajectory planning frameworks for tight formation control in cluttered, dynamic environments.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10506899/Autonomous aerial vehiclescollision avoidancedecentralized controlformation controlgraph theorypath planning
spellingShingle Fahad Tanveer
Muhammad Bilal Kadri
Decentralized Asynchronous Formation Planning of Multirotor Aerial Vehicles in Dynamic Environments Using Flexible Formation Graphs and Tight Trajectory Hulls
IEEE Access
Autonomous aerial vehicles
collision avoidance
decentralized control
formation control
graph theory
path planning
title Decentralized Asynchronous Formation Planning of Multirotor Aerial Vehicles in Dynamic Environments Using Flexible Formation Graphs and Tight Trajectory Hulls
title_full Decentralized Asynchronous Formation Planning of Multirotor Aerial Vehicles in Dynamic Environments Using Flexible Formation Graphs and Tight Trajectory Hulls
title_fullStr Decentralized Asynchronous Formation Planning of Multirotor Aerial Vehicles in Dynamic Environments Using Flexible Formation Graphs and Tight Trajectory Hulls
title_full_unstemmed Decentralized Asynchronous Formation Planning of Multirotor Aerial Vehicles in Dynamic Environments Using Flexible Formation Graphs and Tight Trajectory Hulls
title_short Decentralized Asynchronous Formation Planning of Multirotor Aerial Vehicles in Dynamic Environments Using Flexible Formation Graphs and Tight Trajectory Hulls
title_sort decentralized asynchronous formation planning of multirotor aerial vehicles in dynamic environments using flexible formation graphs and tight trajectory hulls
topic Autonomous aerial vehicles
collision avoidance
decentralized control
formation control
graph theory
path planning
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10506899/
work_keys_str_mv AT fahadtanveer decentralizedasynchronousformationplanningofmultirotoraerialvehiclesindynamicenvironmentsusingflexibleformationgraphsandtighttrajectoryhulls
AT muhammadbilalkadri decentralizedasynchronousformationplanningofmultirotoraerialvehiclesindynamicenvironmentsusingflexibleformationgraphsandtighttrajectoryhulls