Energy-Efficient Swarming Flight Formation Transitions Using the Improved Fair Hungarian Algorithm

Abstract

Recently, drone shows have impressed many people through a convergence of technology and art. However, these demonstrations have limited operating hours based on the battery life. Thus, it is important to minimize the unnecessary transition time between scenes without collision to increase operating time. This paper proposes a fast and energy-efficient scene transition algorithm that minimizes the transition times between scenes. This algorithm reduces the maximum drone movement distance to increase the operating time and exploits a multilayer method to avoid collisions between drones. In addition, a swarming flight system including robust communication and position estimation is presented as a concrete experimental system. The proposed algorithm was verified using the swarming flight system at a drone show performed with 100 drones.