Blimp Swarm Research
by Cassandra Eichner
27 August 2019
Researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory flew a fleet of 30 miniature autonomous blimps in unison to test the swarming behavior of autonomous systems. The blimps responded to each other while in flight and responded to changing conditions.
Don Sofge, lead for the distributed autonomous systems group at NRL, and his team are working to further research for autonomous super swarms. Their goal is to fly more than 100 controlled miniature blimps this year.
VIDEO | 03:05 | Blimp Swarm Research
Georgia Tech researchers created the miniature blimp platform and continue to provide design upgrades in collaboration with Sofge’s group. This year, they are upgrading the motors, adding sensors and making design tweaks.
“The process is a constant give-and-take with design and scale,†Sofge said. “It’s better to start with a simple design. You start with something that works and then make incremental changes. There are challenges with design and there are challenges with scaling. So we are redesigning and then scaling up to produce the 100 blimps. We are taking it one step at a time.â€
https://allhands.navy.mil/Stories/Display-Story/Article/1943956/blimp-swarm-research
