An Intelligent Controller for Collaborative Unmanned Air Vehicles

This paper describes an implementation of an autonomous intelligent controller (IC) architecture for collaborative control of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Collaborative capabilities include formation flying, search of an area, and cooperative investigation of a target. The IC provides capabilities for sensor data fusion, internal representation of the real-world, and autonomous decision making based on the IC's world model and mission goals. Results of flight tests demonstrating these capabilities are presented. Future work, such as integration of different sensors and collaboration with heterogeneous vehicles, is discussed.