Intermediate carriers for UAV swarms: Problem of fleet composition

This article introduces a fleet composition algorithm for a fleet of intermediate carriers, which should deliver a swarm of miniature unmanned aerial vehicles (mini-UAVs) to a mission area. The algorithm is based on the sequential solution of several knapsack problems with various constraints. The algorithm allows both to form an initial set of required types of intermediate carriers, and to generate a fleet of intermediate carriers. The formation of a fleet of intermediate carriers to solve a suppression of enemy air defense (SEAD) problem is presented to illustrate the proposed algorithm.