Distributed Greedy Approach for Autonomous Surveillance Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Abstract

This article presents a distributed approach for autonomous exploration and surveillance using unmanned aerial vehicles. The proposed solution applies the agent-oriented paradigm to implement a cooperative approach to solve the problem efficiently. A specific state machine is proposed for unmanned aerial vehicles to implement the coordination needed to explore and monitor a set of points of interest without a centralized infrastructure. The system is conceived to be applied in low-cost commercial unmanned aerial vehicles, to provide an affordable solution for the problem. The experimental evaluation is performed over real and synthetic scenarios. Relevant metrics are studied, including coverage of the explored area and surveillance of the defined points of interest, considering the flight autonomy limitations due to the battery charge. Results demonstrate the validity and applicability of the proposed distributed approach and the effectiveness of the greedy exploration strategy to fulfill the considered goals.