Mission-Oriented Miniature Fixed-Wing UAV Swarms: A Multilayered and Distributed Architecture

In this article, a multilayered and distributed architecture for mission-oriented miniature fixed-wing UAV swarms is presented. Based on the concept of modularity, the proposed architecture divides the overall system into five layers: 1) low-level control layer; 2) high-level control layer; 3) coordination layer; 4) communication layer; and 5) human interaction layer, and many modules that can be viewed as black boxes with interfaces of inputs and outputs. In this way, not only the complexity of developing a large system can be reduced but also the versatility of supporting diversified missions can be ensured. Furthermore, the proposed architecture is fully distributed that each UAV performs the decision-making procedure autonomously so as to achieve better scalability. Moreover, different kinds of aerial platforms can be feasibly extended by using the control allocation matrices and the integrated hardware box. A prototype swarm system based on the proposed architecture is built and the proposed architecture is evaluated through field experiments with a scale of 21 fixed-wing UAVs. Particularly, to the best of our knowledge, this article is the first work which successfully demonstrates formation flight, target recognition, and tracking missions within an integrated architecture for fixed-wing UAV swarms through field experiments.

Automated summary

In this article, a multilayered and distributed architecture for mission-oriented miniature fixed-wing UAV swarms is proposed. The architecture divides the system into five layers and uses interfaces for communication between modules, thereby reducing complexity and supporting diversified missions. Each UAV autonomously performs decision-making procedures, ensuring scalability. Different types of aerial platforms can be easily extended using control allocation matrices and integrated hardware. The proposed architecture is evaluated through field experiments, demonstrating successful formation flight, target recognition, and tracking missions in an integrated architecture for fixed-wing UAV swarms.