Abstract: A swarm communication system. Each of a plurality of transceivers determines a transmission cycle duration, and transmits one packet per transmission cycle, each packet being transmitted at a random point in time within the transmission cycle. The duration of the transmission cycle of a first transceiver may be adjusted according to the number of other transceivers within range of the first transceiver, or according to the number of other transmitters within range of each of the other transmitters that are within range of the first transceiver.

Abstract: A swarm communication system. Each of a plurality of transceivers determines a transmission cycle duration, and transmits one packet per transmission cycle, each packet being transmitted at a random point in time within the transmission cycle. The duration of the transmission cycle of a first transceiver may be adjusted according to the number of other transceivers within range of the first transceiver, or according to the number of other transmitters within range of each of the other transmitters that are within range of the first transceiver.

Abstract: A method and system for automated air traffic management of unmanned vehicles that assures safety and continuous flow, even for vehicles of wide-ranging capabilities. Some embodiments include onboard equipment that distributes the burden of management across all the vehicles in a given airspace so that autonomous cooperation between vehicles creates useful group-level behavior. Vehicles carry definitions of rules of interaction on shared flyways. In conjunction with a means of exchanging location and velocity information with close neighbors, onboard algorithms calculate complementary navigation vectors that inform each vehicle's autopilot of a cooperative trajectory. The collective result of individual, autonomous decisions is cooperation at a group scale that manages traffic features such as density and spacing without the need for a ground-based communication infrastructure.

Abstract: A system and method for generating an artificial topography in a distributed array of robotic agents. Each robotic agent stores, and periodically updates a parameter value or “A-value” in accordance with a process including, e.g., averaging neighboring A-values, received from close neighbor robotic agents, biasing the A-value based on external commands or measured environmental parameters, and decreasing the A-value by a cooling rate factor. Averaging among neighboring robotic agents results eventually in a globally smoothed distribution of A-values. A gradient may be estimated for the distribution of A-values, and the robotic agents may be programmed to move in the direction of the gradient, toward increasing A-values. This behavior may be employed to cause the robotic agents to follow a robotic agent with a fixed, relatively large, A-value, or, if the A-values are biased by features (e.g., gradients or steps) in environmental parameters, to converge on such features.

Abstract: A water drone capable of navigating on the surface, or below the surface, of a body of water. In some embodiments such a vehicle is light-weight, electric-powered, and propeller-driven, and may be operated by remote control from the shore and guided with simple autopilot commands. The vehicle may have two actuators at the rear of the vehicle, each including a motor and a propeller, and each capable of producing forward or reverse thrust. The vehicle may be capable of travelling horizontally through the surf zone and diving vertically through the water column to the seafloor. The vehicle may monitor its own location and depth and may measure environmental conditions such as water temperature; such measurements may be communicated back to the operator using a telemetry system.