A Single Motor Nano Aerial Vehicle with Novel Peer-to-Peer Communication and Sensing Mechanism

2024-05-23

Robotics: Science and Systems

AI Summary

To address the need for lightweight inter-drone communication and three-dimensional relative perception in micro-scale UAV swarms, this paper proposes a hardware system based on the single-motor nano-UAV MP3. The system employs low-power infrared optical communication between drones and implements a timestamp-driven triangulation algorithm to estimate neighboring drones’ relative azimuth, distance, and altitude in real time. It pioneers the integration of both communication and 3D relative perception within a single-motor flight control architecture, achieved through miniaturization and co-design optimization of hardware and firmware—yielding a total mass of only 2.5 g. Experimental validation confirms autonomous localization, stable hovering, environmental maneuverability, and multi-agent point-to-point perception-aware communication. This work represents the first demonstration of embedded, integrated 3D relative perception and communication on an ultra-lightweight platform, establishing a viable hardware foundation for intelligent micro-scale UAV swarm operations.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Multimodal Perception & Sensor Fusion
• Machine Learning: Hardware-aware ML
• Multiagent Systems: Agent Communication

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Experiences and lessons learnt from Web-based algorithms and system deployments
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: On-Device user modeling, personalization, and recommendation

Abstract

Communication and position sensing are among the most important capabilities for swarm robots to interact with their peers and perform tasks collaboratively. However, the hardware required to facilitate communication and position sensing is often too complicated, expensive, and bulky to be carried on swarm robots. Here we present Maneuverable Piccolissimo 3 (MP3), a minimalist, single motor drone capable of executing inter-robot communication via infrared light and triangulation-based sensing of relative bearing, distance, and elevation using message arrival time. Thanks to its novel design, MP3 can communicate with peers and localize itself using simple components, keeping its size and mass small and making it inherently safe for human interaction. We present the hardware and software design of MP3 and demonstrate its capability to localize itself, fly stably, and maneuver in the environment using peer-to-peer communication and sensing.

Problem

• Developing minimalist drone with peer-to-peer communication
• Enabling relative positioning using simple infrared components
• Reducing hardware complexity for swarm robot interactions

Innovation

• Single motor drone with infrared peer-to-peer communication
• Triangulation-based sensing using message arrival time
• Minimalist design enabling compact size and human safety