UAV swarm technology emerges to perform varied applications
With UAV swarm technology
advancing, the question is what will these swarms be able to accomplish? UAV swarms are groups of UAVs that work together to accomplish goals, communicating with each other and assisting other members of the swarm in tasks.
The obvious mission for swarms, and the one that was tested by Boeing and the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory tested, is searching areas and transmitting information to soldiers on the ground. A swarm of UAVs is capable of mapping an area quickly, using communications technology to assign different areas to different UAVs while sending data to warfighters.
Search and rescue operations are also being looked into, with multiple UAVs being able to search an area for people in danger, relaying the information to rescuers and even marking the area visually.
There are also offensive capabilities that swarms are well suited for, such as overwhelming air defense through sheer volume. Current defensive systems are not designed to defend against massive attacks carried out by dozens, even hundreds of armed unmanned vehicles. Inexpensive armed UAVs that can communicate with each other to carry out attacks may prove to be a safe and economical way to remove anti-aircraft defenses.
UAV swarms are an emerging technology that can provide a solution to a variety of problems on the modern battlefield.
The obvious mission for swarms, and the one that was tested by Boeing and the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory tested, is searching areas and transmitting information to soldiers on the ground. A swarm of UAVs is capable of mapping an area quickly, using communications technology to assign different areas to different UAVs while sending data to warfighters.
Search and rescue operations are also being looked into, with multiple UAVs being able to search an area for people in danger, relaying the information to rescuers and even marking the area visually.
There are also offensive capabilities that swarms are well suited for, such as overwhelming air defense through sheer volume. Current defensive systems are not designed to defend against massive attacks carried out by dozens, even hundreds of armed unmanned vehicles. Inexpensive armed UAVs that can communicate with each other to carry out attacks may prove to be a safe and economical way to remove anti-aircraft defenses.
UAV swarms are an emerging technology that can provide a solution to a variety of problems on the modern battlefield.
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
