Architecture presents an integrated
solution for UAV navigation in unknown hazardous
environments. By dividing the large scale UAV control
problem into a number of hierarchical, modular tasks, this
architecture is adaptable to a variety of missions,
strategies, and sensors.
The architecture includes the following modules: a team
manager, UAV managers, and a sensor information
processor. The team manager is responsible for group
control such as resource allocation. The UAV manager
(one per UAV) can receive high-level commands for a
single UAV, such as “search an area for threats” [26]. A
low level autopilot, such as the Piccolo system, is
subordinate to the UAV manager.
The sensor information processor integrates sensor data
from a group of cooperating UAVs. It combines sensor
data with any previously known information as a
probability map, which is updated using Bayes’ rule when
new threats are detected. This results in a shared risk map,
which is used by the UAVs for safe path planning.
Current mission implementations include “strategic
search” (safe navigation between points) and “threat
search” (area threat mapping). Both of these make use of a
“safe flight” algorithm [27], which decreases a UAVs
forward progress to allow sufficient processing time to
search the forward area for threats.
Strategic search follows an optimization strategy for the
minimum risk path to the desired location. Each time the
risk map is updated, the least-risk path is reoptimized from