Design Of A Multi-Vehicle Management System

Abstract

This paper introduces the innovative prototype of a general-purpose Multi-Vehicle Management System (MVMS) that allows the operator to handle the whole process of UAVs fleet management: plan, supervise and control, by means of an intuitive XR immersive environment. The system has been designed around a modular and scalable backbone, being able to repliacte the most suitable architecture for the specific use case, from the simple centralized architecture to the more sophisticated cluster-of-clusters one and the 4G/5G web-based remote fleet control. The immersive VR environment allows the operator to handle the whole mission by interacting directly with the fleet and this represents a good step forward in operator's situational awareness. The system features also a simulation environment for test and training purposes and through which the prototype has been validated in its various features, such as mission planning, automatic geofence control, collision-risk prediction etc. The results show that this technological solution allows mission management with reduced workload in the most diverse use cases, from military, to civil applications, while ensuring at the same time alignment with future developments in UAV regulations, such as U-Space.