Conflict Detection and Resolution Method for Cooperating Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

This paper presents a Conflict Detection and Resolution (CDR) method for cooperating Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) sharing airspace. The proposed method detects conflicts using an algorithm based on axis-aligned minimum bounding box and solves the detected conflicts cooperatively using a genetic algorithm that modifies the trajectories of the UAVs with an overall minimum cost. The method changes the initial flight plan of each UAV by adding intermediate waypoints that define the solution flight plan while maintaining their velocities. The method has been validated with many simulations and experimental results with multiple aerial vehicles platforms based on quadrotors in a common airspace. The experiments have been carried out in the multi-UAV aerial testbed of the Center for Advanced Aerospace Technologies (CATEC).