Zero to Swarm: Integrating sUAS Swarming into a Multi-disciplinary Engineering Program

We present the results of a year-long effort to develop swarm tactics in the DARPA-sponsored Service Academies Swarm Challenge. Through the course of approximately 9 months, each Academy went from “zero to swarm” in capability and fielded swarms of 25 fixed and rotary wing small unmanned aerial systems. After a series of virtual scrimmages, teams competed in a live-fly swarm v. swarm aerial simulated combat competition. This paper provides an overview of the SASC architecture (i.e., hardware, software, simulation), swarm behaviors and tactics, testing, and the results from the competition.