SwarmFly: A simulation platform for UAV swarm experiment design and validation

2026-06-23

AI Summary

This work addresses the limitations of existing open-source drone swarm simulation tools—such as inadequate maintenance, steep learning curves, and limited scenario diversity—by presenting a modular and extensible MATLAB-based simulation platform. The platform supports multiple cooperative modes, including leader-follower, decentralized coordination, heterogeneous relaying, and heterogeneous velocities, and integrates real-time mapping, IMU telemetry emulation, IP geolocation, and a plugin-based architecture. Notably, it enables non-intrusive injection of internal and external disturbances and facilitates extensible behavioral and fault models without modifying core code. The framework provides observability and quantitative analysis of swarm control mechanisms and demonstrates robust performance across eight experiments evaluating formation accuracy, wind resistance, fault recovery, endurance, and airspace compliance, thereby laying the groundwork for future hardware-in-the-loop and high-fidelity large-scale simulations.

Abstract

The initial development phase of UAV swarms largely depends on simulation for experimental design and validation, yet existing open-source tools are often unmaintained, have steep learning curves, or are built around a single fixed scenario. The need for a comprehensive, modular simulation platform is a recognized research gap. This paper presents SwarmFly, a MATLAB-based simulation and test platform for multi- UAV swarms that addresses these gaps. SwarmFly combines a real-time operational map, four swarm coordination modes (leader-follower, decentralized, heterogeneous relay, and heterogeneous speed), simulated IMU telemetry, and IP-based geolocation with a plugin architecture that lets researchers add behaviors, fault models, and analysis tools without touching the core code. Eight bundled plugins extend the base simulator into a full test harness. The SwarmFly platform exposes multi-agent aerial swarms to a wide range of internal and external disruptions, enabling observation and quantification of underlying swarm control and behavioral mechanisms. This study verifies and characterizes each subsystem through eight experiments that measure formation accuracy, wind tolerance, fault recovery, energy endurance, and airspace compliance. The platform runs entirely in MATLAB. Its modular design supports straightforward extension toward hardware-in-the-loop testing, larger swarms, and higher-fidelity dynamics. An open-source release is available at [https://github.com/abhishekphadke/SwarmFly.git]

Problem

• UAV swarm
• simulation platform
• modular design
• experimental validation
• multi-agent systems