Information Sharing Based on Local PSO for UAVs Cooperative Search of Moved Targets

This paper proposes an optimization strategy for searching moving targets’ locations using cooperative unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in an unknown environment. Such a strategy aims at reducing the overall search time and impact of uncertainties caused by the motion of targets, as well as improving the detection efficiency of UAVs. Specifically, we report, based on the UAV’s scan of a location and taking into account (i) the detection and communication coverage limitations, and (ii) either a false alarm or inaccurate detection of the target, either the existence or the absence of the target. Moreover, leveraging a cooperative and competitive particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, a decentralized target search model, relying on a real-time dynamic construction of cooperative UAV local sub-swarms (LoPSO), is proposed. Each sub-swarm strives to validate quickly the target location, updated based on the Bayesian theory. In such a strategy, each UAV operates in two flight modes, namely, either in swarm mode or in Greedy mode, and takes into consideration the received data from other UAVs to improve the overall environmental information. The simulation results revealed that the LoPSO outperforms other well-known searching methods of target methods for target search in unknown environments in terms of both performance and computational complexity.