Drone Formation for Efficient Swarm Energy Consumption

TL;DR

This paper investigates how different drone swarm formations impact energy efficiency, considering wind effects, and provides a dataset for further research in swarm-based drone services.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive dataset and analysis of drone formation flying effects on energy consumption under varying wind conditions.

Findings

Certain formations conserve more energy in specific wind conditions

Wind significantly affects the forces between drones in formation

Classified formations based on energy efficiency under different conditions

Abstract

We demonstrate formation flying for drone swarm services. A set of drones fly in four different swarm formations. A dataset is collected to study the effect of formation flying on energy consumption. We conduct a set of experiments to study the effect of wind on formation flying. We examine the forces the drones exert on each other when flying in a formation. We finally identify and classify the formations that conserve most energy under varying wind conditions. The collected dataset aims at providing researchers data to conduct further research in swarm-based drone service delivery. Demo: https://youtu.be/NnucUWhUwLs