| The main focus of this research and thesis was the development of a decentralized framework for the cooperative control of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The goal of the software was to coordinate multiple UAVs to perform a wide area search on a defined area. The developed algorithms were based on the idea that simple rules can be programmed leading to an overall complex behavior. The simple algorithm that was developed illustrates a high level of autonomy, including reactive behavior without human interaction. The developed software was tested and run onboard an actual hardware avionics unit with a payload computer in the loop. |
