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Researchers at the Mbadachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a self-contained system that allows a fleet of drones to collaboratively search for hikers stranded under dense forest cover without the aid of GPS.
This system allows drones to explore cooperatively. field using only onboard computing and wireless communication under broad forests where GPS signals are unreliable.
"We are essentially replacing humans with a fleet of drones to make research in the search and rescue process more efficient," said lead author Yulun Tian of MIT's Aerospace and Astronautics Department. AeroAstro)
Each autonomous quadrotor drone is equipped with laser rangefinders for estimating position, location and trajectory planning, and when the drone flies it creates an individual 3D map of the terrain.
algorithms help to recognize unexplored and already searched areas, so it knows when it has mapped a whole area.An external ground station merges the individual maps of several drones into a global 3D map that can be monitored by lifeguards
The team tested several drones in randomly generated forest simulations, as well as two drones located in in a wooded area of NASA in Langley. Research Center in Virginia, US.
In both experiments, each drone mapped an area of about 20 square meters in about two to five minutes and merged their maps together in real time.
The performance of this drone was also satisfactory.
Producing a 3D map is more reliable than simply attaching a camera to a drone and monitoring the video. Feed, noted Tian.
The results should be presented at the conference of the International Symposium on Experimental Robotics, also to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from November 5 to 8 [19659011] (With the participation of the organizations.)
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