TECH

Stand-alone drones can ward off danger that birds pose at airports

A team of Caltech researchers has developed an algorithm for the purpose of teaching drones how to deal autonomously with flocks of birds that constitute a great danger in the areas of the airports where the planes circulate. It has come to the conclusion that manually controlled devices are not feasible because if the operator performs aggressive movements, frightened birds may spread and become even more dangerous.The collision of aircraft with birds has already caused $ 1.2 billion in damage worldwide, but according to the engineers' spokesman, the project was inspired by the incident in 2009 when US Airways flight 1549 was caught by a flock of geese, and the engines ran out of power. Known as the "Miracle on the Hudson", the plane was saved thanks to the expertise of the pilots, making it land on the river. To avoid other incidents, and not always with this happy ending, Soon-Jo Chung, leader of the project, gathered the team to investigate new ways to chase the birds through technology.For the construction of the algorithm, the team studied the dynamics of the flocks, from their formation during the flight, and their behavior towards threats, especially at the end of the group, to develop the mathematical model. The researchers concluded that if the birds at the extremities detect external threats, they make changes of direction that affect the companions near them, creating a domino effect that changes the direction of the flock. However, if the external threat is too close and rapid of them, the birds disband frightened.
In this way, the algorithms inserted in the drones allow them to be transformed into authentic "shepherds" to guide the "herd" out of the danger of the airplanes, creating movement behaviors to avoid collisions and speed pairing with the birds.
For now the model has been successfully tested with just one drone to keep the flocks of birds out of the area of the flights. The team's next step is to upgrade the model so that several autonomous drones can be used to coordinate at airports.



Sapo