Acoustic-based UAS Rainbow Oscillation Refraction Architecture (AURORA)

Objective: The objective of this topic is to conduct applied research toward an innovative capability to achieve spatio-spectral decomposition of sound produced by small uncrewed aerial systems (sUAS) within a swarm to enable the transmission and reception of information encoded on those sound waves and support relative position awareness within a multi-agent system. Description: This topic seeks innovative research and development efforts towards an acoustic-based communications system that enables sUAS within a swarm to communicate and exchange information about their relative positions. This capability will support intra-swarm communications by using sound primarily generated by the sUAS’s propellors as a carrier wave to encode data between drones. The system should spatially decompose incoherent sound waves produced by the sUAS’s propellors during normal operation into its component frequencies and refract them across different vectors based on their respective frequencies. The system will also need to process these signals to enable decentralized, multi-agent swarming by applying Boids model or a similar self-organizing, flocking algorithm for autonomous systems. As a part of this feasibility study, the proposers shall address all viable overall system design options with respective specifications on the key system attributes. Key system attributes include: Must use the mixture of incoherent sound waves generated by the propellors of a sUAS to enable intra-swarm communications. Must refract the sound waves produced by a sUAS’s propellors into separate coherent frequencies that can be modulated to encode data. Must receive and transmit omnidirectionally. Must enable sUAS to independently determine their position relative to the rest of the swarm based on the direction and magnitude of frequencies that it receives. This may be achieved by refracting higher or inaudible frequencies downward and lower frequencies upward, allowing each sUAS to determine their elevation and general position relative to other sUAS. Must enable heterogenous sUAS to effectively transmit and receive data intra-swarm. This includes enabling heterogenous sUAS to organize in the most optimal formation to improve signal quality and mobility. Must address reciprocal interference either through isolation of transmit and receive paths or some other means. Must enable individual, autonomous sUAS to avoid collisions and align positions within a larger multi-agent swarm. Must address the variability of acoustic frequencies generated by different models and sizes of sUAS as well as environmental factors that may affect the propagation of sound waves. Must not rely on additional oscillators to generate sound waves. May use low-noise amplifiers or other means of improving signal quality. Must address the impact of Doppler shift that may be caused by the changing position of sUAS travelling at variable speeds relative to other sUAS within a multi-agent system. Must not impede the normal operation of the sUAS. Keywords: communications; awareness; acoustic; sound; refraction; swarm; obstacle avoidance; robotics; metaheuristics; propellers; oscillation; transmit; receive; encoding; pulse code modulation; modulation; drones; synchronization; cohesion; decentralized; self-organizing; collective behavior; swarm optimization; boids