Creating an Autonomous Multi-UAV Communications Relay Network

Abstract

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are used in a wide variety of applications. In the military, these systems can act as a communication relay between ground units and offshore units or enhance surveillance and reconnaissance; however, the low transmission power of common wireless networking equipment and obstacles limit the range of these systems. A multi-UAV relay network addresses this problem, providing increased range and coverage. The main contribution of this thesis is the design and implementation of a scalable UAV network that makes use of inexpensive IEEE 802.11 routers and Raspberry Pis to control six commercial quadcopter UAVs simultaneously. A platform-agnostic, GUI program for multi-UAV monitoring and control was implemented, and additional programs for networking, communication, and data transfer were written. The resulting network was tested indoors, and its performance was analyzed.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2017
Accession Number
AD1215542

Entities

People

  • James R. Mcmasters

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Autonomy
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Collision Avoidance
  • Computer Networks
  • Computer Programming
  • Computers
  • Department Of Defense
  • Graphical User Interface
  • Ground Control Stations
  • Guidance
  • Mesh Networks
  • Mobile Phones
  • Network Architecture
  • Network Protocols
  • Network Topology
  • Operating Systems
  • Python Programming Language
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • Unmanned Systems
  • Urban Areas
  • Wireless Communications

Readers

  • Aerial Unmanned Vehicle Swarm Micro Periodontal Dentistry.
  • Neural Network Machine Learning.
  • Radio communications and signal processing.

Technology Areas

  • Autonomy
  • Autonomy - UAVs