Aerial Imaging and Wireless Communications with Multiple Autonomous UAVs

With the recent technological advances in small-scale aerial vehicles, deployment of three-dimensional (3D) vehicular and sensor networks for civil applications becomes increasingly probable. Especially, networks of aerial and ground robots equipped with various sensors are expected to be deployed for monitoring, surveillance, disaster management, etc. In this work, we illustrate a high level architecture for the design of collaborative multiple aerial robot systems that consist of vehicles with on-board sensors and embedded processing, and sensing, coordination, and communication&networking capabilities. We present a multi-UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) system consisting of quadrotors and demonstrate its potential in disaster assistance and site monitoring scenarios. Furthermore, we illustrate the challenges in the design of multi-UAV systems and present potential solutions based on the lessons we have learned so far.