Swarming algorithms to achieve goal based missions

Using swarms to conduct missions is not a new topic and a number of companies are looking at the application of large numbers of drones to achieve these missions. Such swarms are typically controlled using a centralised system such as a ground station or manned aircraft/ vehicle, and this is not considered as exploiting true swarm capabilities due to the command structure. The advantage of emergent swarm behaviours is to overcome the excessive operator Command and Control manpower utilisation, and to become resilient, and not reliant upon hierarchical, single point of failure control nodes. The proposed research is to identify the characteristics which determine the level of intelligence, and inter unit communications, necessary to establish and affect different emergent behaviours from the overall swarm. The research will identify how different emergent behaviours could be derived from a parametrised simple deployed algorithm.