Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, have already proved to be valuable tools for tackling a wide range of real-world problems, ranging from the monitoring of natural environments and agricultural plots to search and rescue missions and the filming of movie scenes from above. So far, most of these problems have been tackled using one drone at a time, rather than teams of multiple autonomous or semi-autonomous UAVs.
Compared to individual UAVs, UAV teams could cover wider geographical areas, capturing more footage of specific scenes or completing desired missions faster. Many roboticists and computer scientists have thus been working on new technologies that could facilitate the simultaneous deployment and coordination of multiple UAVs.
Researchers at Czech Technical University in Prague recently introduced a new method to plan minimum-energy paths for UAVs in a team, allowing them to efficiently cover environments as a team during missions. This method, introduced in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, could both minimize the energy consumption of UAV teams, considering the battery capacity of drones when planning their paths and optimize the speed of flight.
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