Intelligent, Efficient and Secure Operation of UAV Swarm through Adaptive Heterogeneous Communication and Edge-Cloud Collaboration

最近的技术进步和快速增长的市场导致了无人机（UAV）的急剧扩散。 无人机群技术通过利用多架无人机之间的协作，正在成为克服单架无人机局限性的可行解决方案。NSERC CRD项目的主要目标是开发所有异构无线通信链路的集成设计和相应的协作机制，以及边缘云数据处理技术，以实现高度鲁棒、高效和智能的无人机群操作。具体而言，建议的研究集中在鲁棒性和低延迟并发命令和控制，多无人机为基础的飞行自组织网络（FANET）的有效运作，这是通过建议的异构网络（HetNets）之间的协调机制，以支持无人机群的动态操作和高效的密集通信。在超密集FANET网络中实现低延迟通信时，将利用虚拟小小区和优先接入的新概念。此外，将通过智能边缘云协作开发态势感知数据收集，以实现智能无人机群操作。 NSERC CRD计划的资金将主要用于支持西部大学的研发团队，其中包括每年五个高素质人员（HQP）培训生职位，以及与通用动力陆地系统（GDLS）的互动活动。NSERC CRD学员将研究所提出的自适应并发低延迟C2传输技术的理论方面，以及HetNets协调和FANET智能操作的实践方面。此外，来自西方大学和GDLS的研究人员将研究使用机器学习的智能情境感知任务调度。该项目将帮助加拿大工业界在研究成果的基础上开发强大、高效和大规模的机器通信和无人机集群操作技术，这将直接有利于以ICT为基础的加拿大经济。

The recent technological advancement and rapidly growing market have led to the dramatic proliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). By exploiting the collaboration among multiple UAVs, UAV swarm technology is becoming a viable solution to overcome the limitation of a single UAV. The main objective of this NSERC CRD project is to develop the integrated design of all heterogeneous wireless communication links and the corresponding collaboration mechanisms, as well as edge-cloud data processing techniques for highly robust, efficient and intelligent UAV swarm operation. Specifically, the proposed research is focused on robust and low latency concurrent command and control, effective operation of multi-UAV-based flying ad hoc networks (FANET), which are achieved through the proposed coordination mechanism among Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets) to support dynamic operation of an UAV swarm and efficient dense communications. In achieving low latency communications in ultra-dense FANET networks, new concepts of virtual small cell and prioritized access will be utilized. In addition, a situation-aware data collection through intelligent edge-cloud collaboration will be developed in achieving intelligent UAV swarm operation. The funds from the NSERC CRD program will be mainly used to support the research and development team at Western University, which includes five Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) trainee positions on an annual basis, as well as the interaction activities with General Dynamics Land System ("GDLS"). Both theoretical aspects of the proposed adaptive concurrent low latency C2 transmission techniques, and the practical aspects on HetNets coordination and intelligent operation of FANET will be investigated by the NSERC CRD trainees. In addition, intelligent situation-aware task scheduling using machine learning will be investigated by the researchers from Western University and GDLS. This project will help the Canadian industries develop robust, efficient, and large scale machine communications and UAV swarm operation technologies based on the research results, which will directly benefit the ICT based Canadian economy.