An OpenEaagles Framework Extension for Hardware in the Loop Swarm Simulation
Abstract
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) swarm applications, algorithms, and control strategies have experienced steady growth and development over the past 15 years. Yet, to this day, most swarm development exB;orts have gone untested and thus unimplemented. Cost of aircraft systems, government imposed airspace restrictions, and the lack of adequate modeling and simulation tools are some of the major inhibitors to successful swarm implementation. This thesis examines how the OpenEaagles simulation framework can be extended to bridge this gap. This research aims to utilize Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) simulation to provide developers a functional capability to develop and test the behaviors of scalable and modular swarms of autonomous UAVs in simulation with high confidence that these behaviors will propagate to real/live flight tests. Demonstrations show the framework enhances and simples swarm development through encapsulation, possesses high modularity, provides realistic aircraft modeling, and is capable of simultaneously accommodating four hardware-piloted swarming UAVs during HIL simulation or 64 swarming UAVs during pure simulation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 24, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1053880
Entities
People
- Derek Worth
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology