Control-Aware Trajectory Predictions for Communication-Efficient Drone Swarm Coordination in Cluttered Environments

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Yan, Longhao, Zhou, Jingyuan, Yang, Kaidi
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Yan, Longhao
Zhou, Jingyuan
Yang, Kaidi
author_facet Yan, Longhao
Zhou, Jingyuan
Yang, Kaidi
contents Swarms of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) have demonstrated enormous potential in many industrial and commercial applications. However, before deploying UAVs in the real world, it is essential to ensure they can operate safely in complex environments, especially with limited communication capabilities. To address this challenge, we propose a control-aware learning-based trajectory prediction algorithm that can enable communication-efficient UAV swarm control in a cluttered environment. Specifically, our proposed algorithm can enable each UAV to predict the planned trajectories of its neighbors in scenarios with various levels of communication capabilities. The predicted planned trajectories will serve as input to a distributed model predictive control (DMPC) approach. The proposed algorithm combines (1) a trajectory prediction model based on EvolveGCN, a Graph Convolutional Network (GCN) that can handle dynamic graphs, which is further enhanced by compressed messages from adjacent UAVs, and (2) a KKT-informed training approach that applies the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions in the training process to encode DMPC information into the trained neural network. We evaluate our proposed algorithm in a funnel-like environment. Results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art benchmarks, providing close-to-optimal control performance and robustness to limited communication capabilities and measurement noises.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_12852
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Control-Aware Trajectory Predictions for Communication-Efficient Drone Swarm Coordination in Cluttered Environments
Yan, Longhao
Zhou, Jingyuan
Yang, Kaidi
Robotics
Swarms of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) have demonstrated enormous potential in many industrial and commercial applications. However, before deploying UAVs in the real world, it is essential to ensure they can operate safely in complex environments, especially with limited communication capabilities. To address this challenge, we propose a control-aware learning-based trajectory prediction algorithm that can enable communication-efficient UAV swarm control in a cluttered environment. Specifically, our proposed algorithm can enable each UAV to predict the planned trajectories of its neighbors in scenarios with various levels of communication capabilities. The predicted planned trajectories will serve as input to a distributed model predictive control (DMPC) approach. The proposed algorithm combines (1) a trajectory prediction model based on EvolveGCN, a Graph Convolutional Network (GCN) that can handle dynamic graphs, which is further enhanced by compressed messages from adjacent UAVs, and (2) a KKT-informed training approach that applies the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions in the training process to encode DMPC information into the trained neural network. We evaluate our proposed algorithm in a funnel-like environment. Results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art benchmarks, providing close-to-optimal control performance and robustness to limited communication capabilities and measurement noises.
title Control-Aware Trajectory Predictions for Communication-Efficient Drone Swarm Coordination in Cluttered Environments
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.12852