A Low-Cost Experimental Testbed for Decentralized Control of Multi-UAV Systems

The current state of research in control of multi-agent systems is evolving from the theoretical development of coordination algorithms and their computer simulations to experimental validations on proof-of-concept testbeds. In this paper, we describe the development of a low-cost, indoor, multiple unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platform for testing decentralized control algorithms. The platform consists of a team of Parrot Mambo Fly’s (a small commercially-available quadcopter-type UAV), a host computer per UAV, and a Simulink-based programming environment. The paper details the hardware, software, communication, and control components of the platform, followed by a demonstration of the platform’s performance in the context of formation control.