Multi-UAV Coordination in UTM
We are interested in addressing the challenges of coordinating large-scale Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) fleets in shared and dynamic airspace. Our research focuses on preflight planning systems that handle temporal No-Fly Zones (NFZs), heterogeneous vehicle profiles, and strict delivery deadlines for urban air mobility applications.
Problem Overview
Preflight planning for large-scale UAV fleets in dynamic, shared airspace presents significant challenges, including:
- Temporal No-Fly Zones (NFZs): Dynamic restrictions that appear and disappear over time
- Heterogeneous vehicle profiles: Different UAVs with varying capabilities, speeds, and payloads
- Strict delivery deadlines: Time-critical missions requiring precise scheduling
- Inter-agent conflicts: Multiple UAVs sharing the same airspace simultaneously
Our Approach: DTAPP-IICR
We propose DTAPP-IICR: a Delivery-Time Aware Prioritized Planning method with Incremental and Iterative Conflict Resolution. Our framework:
- Generates an initial solution by prioritizing missions based on urgency
- Computes roundtrip trajectories using SFIPP-ST, a novel 4D single-agent planner (Safe Flight Interval Path Planning with Soft and Temporal Constraints)
- Resolves conflicts iteratively using Large Neighborhood Search, guided by a geometric conflict graph
Key Features
- SFIPP-ST: Handles heterogeneous UAVs, strictly enforces temporal NFZs, and models inter-agent conflicts as soft constraints
- Scalability: Designed to handle large-scale fleets (hundreds to thousands of UAVs)
- Real-world deployment: Tested in urban delivery scenarios
Applications
- Urban air mobility
- On-demand delivery systems
- Emergency response coordination
- Infrastructure inspection