A distributed framework for supporting 3D swarming applications

In-flight wireless sensor networks (WSN) are of increased interest owing to efficiency gains in weight and operational lifetime of IP-enabled computers. High impact 3D swarming applications for such systems include autonomous mapping, surveying, servicing, environmental monitoring and disaster site management. For distributed robotic applications, such as quad copter swarms, it is critical that the robots are able to localise themselves autonomously with respect to other robots and to share information. The importance of fast and reliable dissemination of localised information in these elastic three-dimensional networks provides us sufficient reason to present a distributed framework and hardware settings for passing this information pervasively through the swarm. The research field of Internet of Things (IoT) have for several years been addressing issues around low-power, low-bandwidth wireless communication. By applying IoT technologies to the challenges around swarming, new opportunities are created. However, since IoT have been primarily used with stationary devices, the introduction of flying sensors will add more challenges to address.