Fast and In Sync: Periodic Swarm Patterns for Quadrotors

TL;DR

This paper presents a flexible framework for designing and executing synchronized, periodic swarm patterns in quadrotors, enabling complex choreographies through motion primitives, smooth transitions, and delay compensation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel methodology for creating and synchronizing periodic swarm patterns, combining motion primitives, transition algorithms, and correction techniques.

Findings

Successfully validated on a 25-quadrotor swarm.

Achieved smooth, synchronized periodic motions.

Demonstrated flexible choreography design.

Abstract

This paper aims to design quadrotor swarm performances, where the swarm acts as an integrated, coordinated unit embodying moving and deforming objects. We divide the task of creating a choreography into three basic steps: designing swarm motion primitives, transitioning between those movements, and synchronizing the motion of the drones. The result is a flexible framework for designing choreographies comprised of a wide variety of motions. The motion primitives can be intuitively designed using few parameters, providing a rich library for choreography design. Moreover, we combine and adapt existing goal assignment and trajectory generation algorithms to maximize the smoothness of the transitions between motion primitives. Finally, we propose a correction algorithm to compensate for motion delays and synchronize the motion of the drones to a desired periodic motion pattern. The proposed methodology was validated experimentally by generating and executing choreographies on a swarm of 25 quadrotors.