Self-Reconfiguration in Response to Faults in Modular Aerial Systems

We present a self-reconfiguration technique by which a modular flying platform can mitigate the impact of rotor failures. In this technique, the system adapts its configuration in response to rotor failures to be able to continue its mission while efficiently utilizing resources. A mixed integer linear program determines an optimal module-to-position allocation in the structure based on rotor faults and desired trajectories. We further propose an efficient dynamic programming algorithm that minimizes the number of disassembly and reassembly steps needed for reconfiguration. Evaluation results show that our technique can substantially increase the robustness of the system while utilizing resources efficiently, and that it can scale well with the number of modules.