Multi-swarm Infrastructure for Swarm Versus Swarm Experimentation

This paper builds on previous Naval Postgraduate School success with large, autonomous swarms of fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to provide infrastructure for the simultaneous operation of multiple swarms. Developed in support of an event fostering swarm capability development through competition, the online referee, or Arbiter, monitors and evaluates multiple independent but interacting swarms. This Arbiter provides sensor modeling for both swarms, evaluation of inter-swarm interaction, scoring and enforcement of competition rules, and graphical display of game status. Arbiter capability is demonstrated through live-fly experiments and software-in-the-loop simulation. The Arbiter is also used to evaluate swarm behaviors that are developed for air-to-air pursuit of an opposing swarm with results provided in this paper.