Haomeng Zhang, Baoqian Wang, Ruitao Wu, Junfei Xie, Yan Wan, Shengli Fu, Kejie Lu
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
In recent years, networked airborne computing (NAC) has emerged as a promising paradigm because it can leverage the collaborative capabilities of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for distributed computing tasks. Despite the burgeoning interests in NAC and UAV-based computing, many existing studies depend on over-simplified simulations for performance evaluation. This reliance has led to a gap in our understanding of NAC’s true potential and challenges. To fill this gap, this paper presents a comprehensive approach: the creation of a realistic simulator and a novel hardware testbed. The simulator, developed using ROS and Gazebo, emulates networked UAVs, focusing on resource-sharing and distributed computing capabilities. This tool offers a cost-effective, scalable, and adaptable environment, making it ideal for preliminary investigations across a myriad of real-world scenarios. In parallel, our hardware testbed comprises multiple quadrotors, each equipped with a Pixhawk control unit, a Raspberry Pi computing module, a real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning system, and multiple communication units. Through extensive simulations and hardware tests, we delve into the key determinants of NAC performance, such as computation task size, number of UAVs, communication quality, and UAV mobility. Our findings not only underscore the inherent challenges in optimizing NAC performance but also provide pivotal insights for future enhancements. These insights encompass refining the simulator, reducing computation overheads, and equipping the hardware testbed with cutting-edge communication devices.
期刊介绍:
An unmanned system is a machine or device that is equipped with necessary data processing units, sensors, automatic control, and communications systems and is capable of performing missions autonomously without human intervention. Unmanned systems include unmanned aircraft, ground robots, underwater explorers, satellites, and other unconventional structures. Unmanned Systems (US) aims to cover all subjects related to the development of automatic machine systems, which include advanced technologies in unmanned hardware platforms (aerial, ground, underwater and unconventional platforms), unmanned software systems, energy systems, modeling and control, communications systems, computer vision systems, sensing and information processing, navigation and path planning, computing, information fusion, multi-agent systems, mission management, machine intelligence, artificial intelligence, and innovative application case studies. US welcomes original manuscripts in the following categories: research papers, which disseminate scientific findings contributing to solving technical issues underlying the development of unmanned systems; review articles and state-of-the-art surveys, which describe the latest in basic theories, principles, and innovative applications; short articles, which discuss the latest significant achievements and the future trends; and book reviews. Special issues related to the topics of US are welcome. A short proposal should be sent to the Editors-in-Chief. It should include a tentative title; the information of the Guest Editor(s); purpose and scope; possible contributors; and a tentative timetable. If the proposal is accepted, the Guest Editor(s) will be responsible for the special issue and should follow the normal US review process. Copies of the reviewed papers and the reviewers'' comments should be given to the Editors-in-Chief for recording purposes.