The application prospects of drones are broad (science and technology view)

The concept of cluster is the earliest from biological research. The creatures in nature through individual independent decisions and information interaction between individuals make the entire group have self -organizing, collaborative, stability and environmental adaptability. Inspired by this, drone researchers tried to simulate the intelligent behavior of biological groups such as pigeons in nature and the geese formation, and connect multiple drones to form a drone cluster with a "smart brain". Through perception of interaction, information transmission and collaborative work, the drone cluster becomes an independent air intelligent system. This system is not a simple superposition of a single platform, but through the cluster independent control strategy to produce cluster coordination effects, and realize the group intelligence of "1+1> 2".

Cluster, autonomy, and intelligent drone cluster is an important development direction of future drones. Compared with a single drone system, the drone cluster can use its scale advantage to complete complex tasks, and has strong survivability and cost advantage. For example, when some drones fail, other drones can replace them to complete the predetermined task, so that the cluster system has high fault tolerance and self -healing ability. If there is a new drone to join the cluster, it can establish communication with the border drone to quickly integrate the new cluster. In addition, through reasonable layout and collaborative control, low -cost drone clusters can replace high -cost single complex systems to exert greater economic benefits. The cost of the 1,000 -scale drone cluster system may be lower than that of a human machine, and the comprehensive performance is expected to be higher.

The drone collecting flight performance mainly uses technologies such as three -dimensional modeling, cluster network communication, and differential GPS to achieve information exchange between drones in the form of "drumming and passing flowers" to ensure that the running trajectory is accurate. It has a high technical requirements for time synchronization and positioning accuracy. The more individuals, the greater the difficulty of its overall operation. In 2021, the Chinese drone team performed with a 5200 drone collector cluster, refreshing 4 Guinness World Records in one fell swoop, and jumped at the drone formation performance list.

In recent years, with the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, more intelligent drone clusters have appeared one after another. The United Kingdom is trying to use the large -scale planting trees in drone clusters to calculate the most effective planting model in the area through algorithms, thereby reducing the cost of input and increasing production. In the fire scenario of high -rise buildings, the drone clusters can use a variety of means such as reconnaissance, launch, window break, spraying fire extinguishing, etc. to deal with complex fires, and can detect the trend of perception of fire spread, independently change the formation of formation, and cooperate in division of labor, so as to thus cooperate. Improve the efficiency of fire extinguishing work and reduce the casualties of rescuers. In the fields of land measurement and meteorological observation, the drone collective cluster carry distributed loads can complete the multi -point measurement task that the stand -alone cannot complete, providing more accurate measurement data.

Group intelligent technology is one of the core key technologies for the development of drones, and it is also an area where future development. Due to the current level of technology development, the drone cluster still has the bottleneck of "wisdom and wisdom, feel ruthless, no dedication, and uniqueness". There is a certain gap, and the ability to complete complex tasks independently still needs to be improved. With the rapid development of technologies such as artificial intelligence, sensing and communication, drone clusters will show a broader application prospect and bring more technological dividends to human production and life.

(The author is Duan Haibin, a special professor of "Yangtze River Scholars" of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics)

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