Gridswarm and Ultraswarm projects put Bluetooth into fleets of unmanned aircraft
By Donald Melanson 
posted May 18th 2005 6:28AM
posted May 18th 2005 6:28AM
Two research projects from the University of Essex are using a combination of Linux, tiny embedded computer modules,
and Bluetooth to control fleets of unmanned aircraft that can fly in formation and perform parallel, distributed
computing tasks. The Gridswarm project uses model aerobatic trainers that can fly at speeds up 120mph, while the
Ultraswarm project uses co-axial helicopters that can fly indoors (seen at right). That helicopter also apparently has
the distinction of being the world's smallest flying web server. Kind of brings a whole new meaning to a server crash
(forgive us).
[Via Slashdot]
Great, so if they are using conventional Bluetooth transmitters/receivers that go 300feet, the things can fly at 120mph for 2 seconds. At best, the things are going to have a range of about 3,280 (1km) if they are using range extenders. Then they could go for about 20 seconds. Hooray.
Who's going to need to fly a UAV at 120 MPH? They'll probably fly at 30 - 40 MPH tops in real world applications.
I imagine they use bluetooth within the swarm, and some other method to connect to the main server. Makes sense.
I'm sure Bluetooth was used for proof of concept and cost purposes. Units in the field would most likely use a different/proprietary/secure radio protocol. The ultimate goal is for the swarm to be autonomous (no fixed server) or at least somekind of algorithm to have an individual in the swam act as the central authority.
Why don't you read properly about it here:http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS2142584362.html Ultraswarm