Surveillance Using Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

This study examines the performance and limitations of a heuristic cooperative control (CC) surveillance algorithm for multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) under both simulation and demonstration. The algorithm generates Dubin's based paths and provides velocity feedback to accomplish simultaneous arrival onto a surveillance orbit around the target and maintains position while orbiting. The performance was tested under multiple wind conditions in simulation and actual winds during flight testing. Both position accuracy and target visibility were examined.