THE CONCEPT OF CREATING A PROMISING SYSTEM FOR RECHARGING AN AUTONOMOUS GROUP OF UAVS

Abstract

Due to the accelerated growth in the use of groups of autonomously functioning unmanned aerial
vehicles (UAVs) in various environments, solving the problem of optimizing the functioning of groups of
such vehicles according to the criterion of the minimum energy consumed is an urgent scientific task. In
this article, a new approach is being developed to ensure energy saving of a group of unmanned aerial
vehicles (UAVs) by using UAV charging stations that provide the necessary versatility in servicing different
types of vehicles. The most effective variants of landing systems, precise positioning, power generation
at the station are considered, and a hybrid charging system combining contact and contactless methods is also justified. A generalized scheme of multi-stage interaction of the UAV with the charging
station is given, which provides for the possibility of repeating one of the stages if it is not fully completed
within certain time intervals, and also takes into account the peculiarities of interaction between
agents through the communication channels available to them. The problem of optimal distribution
according to the energy criterion of the group's UAVs between destinations (PN) combined with charging
stations (SP) has been set and solved. Both the cruising mode and the maneuvering of the vehicle
during takeoff and landing, when the power consumption increases, are taken into account. The concept
of the effective distance to the destination is introduced, taking into account the estimated energy costs
of each UAV to reach this destination, taking into account its arbitrary current position and the available
queue of tasks at the moment. To study the developed approaches and algorithms for targeting and
planning the movement of the group's UAVs, software based on the Unity environment was created and
tested. The flexibility of the latter allows modeling various algorithms of information interactions
of elements within a group of UAVs, a group of charging stations, as well as cross-interactions
between UAVs and charging stations. In particular, the software allows you to determine at each
discrete moment the degree of charge of each UAV, the queues of destinations for each UAV, its
history of recharge at stations.