An Improved Multi-UAV Rapid Autonomous Exploration Method Based on Environmental Complexity Mode Switching

Menglong Ma(Information and Communication Engineering, Harbin Engineering University)
Chunyu Chen(Information and Communication Engineering, Harbin Engineering University)

Abstract

With the continuous development of drone technology, rapid exploration strategies are of significant importance for tasks such as search and rescue and surveying. Current autonomous exploration systems often face issues of partial small-area information omission in cluttered environments, leading to repeated visits by drones. This paper proposes an improved multi-drone autonomous exploration system, which introduces a novel mode-switching mechanism based on a rapid autonomous exploration framework. This mechanism dynamically adjusts the exploration mode of the drones using the density information of surrounding obstacles. By doing so, drones can avoid missing small pieces of information that result in repeated visits in complex environments, while maintaining high exploration efficiency in simpler environments. This flexible exploration planning approach effectively addresses varying levels of environmental complexity. Evaluations conducted in three different environments of varying complexity demonstrate that the proposed method achieves higher exploration efficiency and reconstruction quality.

Keywords

Aerial System; Perception and Autonomy; Path Planning; Environmental Complexity

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26549/met.v8i1.19489