Multi-UAV Control: 2000 to Present

Dr. David Casbeer
Research Engineer
Air Force Research Laboratory

Abstract

The idea of cooperative control has been around for decades, but it hasn’t been until the last 15 or so years that these ideas have taken hold, mainly due to the surge in hardware capability to implement these ideas. This talk will look at concepts for multi-UAV decision-making and control from an Air Force perspective. Consensus theory, which has developed into a rich area with a deep theoretical background, will be applied to the practical problems such as distributed estimation and teammate coordination. Also, task assignment problems for UAVs will be addressed, including a discussion of complex constraints such as precedence/timing, UAV kinematics and communication, and ideas for implementation. Lastly, future trends will be discussed, like GPS-denied navigation, UAV self-protection, and combinatorial problems with dynamic tasks.

Bio

Dr. David Casbeer is the technical lead for the UAV Cooperative and Intelligent Control Team within the Control Science Center of Excellence in the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Aerospace Systems Directorate. The UAV team focuses on decision making, planning, and coordination for multiple autonomous UAVs acting and reacting in uncertain and adversarial environments. Dr. Casbeer received the BS and PhD degrees from Brigham Young University in 2003 and 2009, respectively, where he advanced theory describing the statistics of decentralized estimation techniques. In 2016, Dr. Casbeer was awarded AFRL’s Early Career Award for distinguished foundational research in multi-agent control. He currently serves as the chair-elect for the AIAA Intelligent Systems Technical Committee and as a Senior Editor for the Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems.

Eloy Garcia received the Ph.D. degree from the Electrical Engineering Department, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, in 2012. He also holds M.S. degrees from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, and the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, both in Electrical Engineering. Since 2012, Dr. Garcia has been a Research Scientist with Infoscitex Corporation, Dayton, OH, and with the Control Science Center of Excellence, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH. His current research interests include cooperative control of multi-agent systems with limited communication, optimal cooperative missile guidance, and differential games with military applications.

Please see the Colloquium Announcement for more details.