Drone networks: Communications, coordination, and sensing

Small drones are being utilized in monitoring, transport, safety and disaster management, and other domains. Envisioning that drones form autonomous networks incorporated into the air traffic, we describe a high-level architecture for the design of a collaborative aerial system consisting of drones with on-board sensors and embedded processing, coordination, and networking capabilities. We implement a multi-drone system consisting of quadcopters and demonstrate its potential in disaster assistance, search and rescue, and aerial monitoring. Furthermore, we illustrate design challenges and present potential solutions based on the lessons learned so far.