English

Decentralised, Self-Organising Drone Swarms using Coupled Oscillators

Robotics 2026-01-21 v1 Systems and Control Systems and Control Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems

Abstract

The problem of robotic synchronisation and coordination is a long-standing one. Combining autonomous, computerised systems with unpredictable real-world conditions can have consequences ranging from poor performance to collisions and damage. This paper proposes using coupled oscillators to create a drone swarm that is decentralised and self organising. This allows for greater flexibility and adaptiveness than a hard-coded swarm, with more resilience and scalability than a centralised system. Our method allows for a variable number of drones to spontaneously form a swarm and react to changing swarm conditions. Additionally, this method includes provisions to prevent communication interference between drones, and signal processing techniques to ensure a smooth and cohesive swarm.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2505.00442,
  title  = {Decentralised, Self-Organising Drone Swarms using Coupled Oscillators},
  author = {Kevin Quinn and Cormac Molloy and Harun Šiljak},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2505.00442},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

Accepted for 2025 8th International Balkan Conference on Communications and Networking (Balkancom)

R2 v1 2026-06-28T23:17:52.234Z