TOMSK, Jul 8 –
RIA Tomsk. A graduate of Tomsk State University (TSU) master's degree from Pakistan has developed new algorithms for
drones to work in groups; they ensure reliable communication between drones and
protect them from hacking, the university's website reported on Thursday.
It is specified
that drones can be used to search for victims of man-made disasters or natural
calamities, environmental monitoring, geological prospecting and so on. If a
group of drones is used for these tasks, the process is accelerated, its
efficiency and reliability are increased.
"Qazawat
Zirak (Pakistan), a graduate of the master's degree program in Computer Engineering: Applied Al and Robotics of the Faculty of Innovative Technologies
of TSU, has created new algorithms to ensure communication between drones
working in a group. Through the use of blockchain technology and other tools,
he managed to achieve high security of drones against hacking and transmission
of false data," says the report.
© с сайта ТГУ
TSU graduate Qazawat Zirak (Pakistan)
It is added that
the use of drone groups has so far been held back by several technical
barriers. One of them is the need for reliable, interference-resistant
communication between drones.
"Communication
is done in a three-coordinate space – height is added, which increases the
complexity of building communication in a network. The drone's onboard computer
must provide computational speed, but also be lightweight and consume little
power. The new communication network was based on LoRaWAN technology," is
specified in the release.
It is emphasized
that drones can transmit only short messages to each other, the format of their
"communication" is limited. To overcome these and other technical
barriers, the TSU graduate developed new algorithmic solutions and created a
data exchange protocol. Zirak has applied to postgraduate study at TSU and
intends to bring a working version to a finished hardware and software product
during his dissertation research.
"Through
development, drones have learned to send each other messages in the right
format up to two kilometers away. At the same time, they do not interrupt each
other and broadcast data only when there is silence on the air. Previously,
after transmitting each message the channel was silent for two seconds",
says the website.