Distributed automatic target recognition using multi-agent UAV swarms

摘要

In modern day warfare, reconnaissance operations such as automatic target recognition(ATR) using unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs) constitute a strategic war tactic. Traditionally, ATR is performed by UAVs that fly within the reconnaissance area to collect image data through sensors and upload the data to a central base station for analyzing and identifying potential targets. The centralized approach to ATR introduces several problems including scalability with the number of UAVs, network delays in communicating with the central location, and, susceptibility of the system to malicious attacks on the central location. These challenges can be addressed using a distributed system for performing ATR. In this paper, we describe a multi-agent system called COMSTAR-UAV (Cooperative Multi-agent System for automatic TArget Recognition using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) that uses swarming techniques inspired from insect colonies to perform ATR in a distributed manner.