Towards autonomous micro UAV swarms

Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) such as quadrocopters have gained great popularity over the last years, both as a research platform and in various application fields. However, some complex application scenarios call for the formation of swarms consisting of multiple drones. In this paper a platform for the creation of such swarms is presented. It is based on commercially available quadrocopters enhanced with on-board processing and communication units enabling full autonomy of individual drones. Furthermore, a generic ground control station is presented that serves as integration platform. It allows the seamless coordination of different kinds of sensor platforms.