Role-based path planning and task allocation with exploration tradeoff for UAVs

After large accidents or natural disasters a fast and efficient retrieval of injured is required. With recent advances, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are more and more a viable choice under such circumstances. The problem of coordination arises with the number of employed UAVs as well as proper task allocation among possibly heterogeneous UAVs. In this work a hybrid approach for UAV coordination and task allocation is presented. It covers the exploration of unknown terrains as well as role-based, goal-oriented path planning and simultaneous task allocation. The approach uses a role system to support prioritized task assignment and an informed search algorithm to find consistent trajectories to known goal positions. The system is suited for highly dynamic environments, requiring frequent recalculations.