Aerial delivery services using small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been proposed by major online retailers, logistics companies, and startups. An interdisciplinary project team at the University of Klagenfurt aims at contributing to the architectural setup and decentralized control of such future systems.
The precision of synchronization algorithms based on the theory of pulse-coupled oscillators is evaluated on FPGA-based radios for the first time. Measurements show that such algorithms can reach precision in the low microsecond range when being implemented in the physical layer.
We mathematically analyze how time synchronization can be guaranteed in arbitrary network topologies and show that the stochastic nature of interactions between network entities can lead to advantageous properties.
Aspects of self-organizing systems were discussed in a multidisciplinary workshop where I had the honour of acting as program co-chair. Two great keynotes were given by Hermann Haken and Hod Lipson.