Pheromone-inspired multiple moving targets search method for swarm unmanned aerial vehicles in environments with unknown obstacles

A multiple moving targets search problem for swarm UAVs in environments with unknown obstacles is studied. The search is divided into roaming search and collaborative search; the multitarget search algorithm consists of task allocation, roaming search, collaborative search and obstacle avoidance. To convert between collaborative search and roaming search, a distance-based dynamic task allocation strategy is proposed. A confidence area pheromone for roaming search is proposed to reduce the repeated search times conducted in the same areas. Probabilistic finite PSO is proposed to adapt to search for moving targets in collaborative search. Furthermore, a boundary scanning-based obstacle avoidance strategy is improved to achieve efficient obstacle avoidance for UAVs in a grid environment. Based on the above, a multiple moving-target search algorithm mode is constructed. This mode shows better performance than existing methods as verified through simulation experiments, and provides a helpful alternative in postdisaster search, and other search fields.