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arXiv · 1810.03572

Fast and In Sync: Periodic Swarm Patterns for Quadrotors

Xintong Du·Carlos E. Luis·Marijan Vukosavljev·Angela P. Schoellig
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Abstract

This paper aims to design quadrotor swarm performances, where the swarm acts as an integrated, coordinated unit embodying moving and deforming objects. We divide the task of creating a choreography into three basic steps: designing swarm motion primitives, transitioning between those movements, and synchronizing the motion of the drones. The result is a flexible framework for designing choreographies comprised of a wide variety of motions. The motion primitives can be intuitively designed using few parameters, providing a rich library for choreography design. Moreover, we combine and adapt existing goal assignment and trajectory generation algorithms to maximize the smoothness of the transitions between motion primitives. Finally, we propose a correction algorithm to compensate for motion delays and synchronize the motion of the drones to a desired periodic motion pattern. The proposed methodology was validated experimentally by generating and executing choreographies on a swarm of 25 quadrotors.

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Xintong Du, Carlos E. Luis, Marijan Vukosavljev, Angela P. Schoellig. 2018-10-08. Fast and In Sync: Periodic Swarm Patterns for Quadrotors. https://arxiv.org/abs/1810.03572

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