Receding Horizon Synthesis and Dynamic Allocation of UAVs to Fight Fires

Abstract

This paper explores the design of a high-level mission planner and controller for managing UAVs fighting a wildfire through the utilization of reactive synthesis and dynamic allocation of the UAVs as resources to the fires. Reactive synthesis provides a formal means of guaranteeing the UAVs transition to areas of fire, refill on water, and emergency land as defined by linear temporal logic specifications. Dynamic allocation coordinates the behavior of multiple UAVs through assignments to regions of fire based on a cost function that takes into effect the fire locations, fire intensities and other UAV locations. For six fire scenarios, this paper determines the minimum number of UAVs required to eliminate all fires and prevent the burning of more than a set amount of fuel (i.e. forestry or shrubbery). Lastly, our results and successful application expand discussion on the utilization of reactive synthesis in larger task spaces and the implications of abstracting UAV transitions for use in formal methods.