Author: Aris Morsink Paloumpas

Many of you may be familiar with the “Decentralized Swarm Demo” we have been showcasing at fairs. Today, we’re excited to introduce its upgraded version, the “Decentralized Brushless Swarm Demo”, that utilizes our latest products! Get ready for an even more impressive experience that takes swarm autonomy to the next level!

This demo utilizes the Lighthouse Positioning System for onboard positioning and peer-to-peer communication between the drones for collision avoidance. The fully autonomous takeoff/landing is achieved with the new Crazyflie 2.1 Brushless charging dock, while the bright LEDs under each Crazyflie are prototypes for a new high-power LED deck that is cooking in the Bitcraze pots at the moment.

You can appreciate the stability in this short video:

The Crazyflie 2.1 Brushless Swarm is much more robust and stable than the normal Crazyflie Swarm, as the new powerful motors allow each drone to perform quick maneuvers to avoid its neighbors. We also observed a much longer flight time than we had with Crazyflie 2.1+ – a full swarm of 9 copters could stay up for around 9 minutes before running out of batteries.

Using our own products—especially those in early access—is a crucial part of development. It allows us to encounter real-world issues that our users might face. In this case, we discovered that Lighthouse decks could be damaged during charging if pins protrude from the bottom of the Brushless. This can cause wiring issues with the dock.

If you’re using these components, please ensure that no pins are sticking out beneath the Brushless, or cover the pins at the bottom. We used the battery holder deck to avoid further issues.

The release of the Crazyflie 2.1 Brushless charging dock makes it possible for everyone to recreate demos like this so make sure to check it out at our store. The source code of the demo can be found on github at the crazyflie-firmware-experimental repository under the arena-demo branch.

Hello there! I am Aris, a recent graduate from the Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics Department at the University of Patras, Greece.

For the last couple of years, as a member of the Robotics Group at the University of Patras, I have been working with Bitcraze products, including the Crazyflie 2.1 and the Lighthouse Positioning System, exploring swarming scenarios. In my diploma thesis I investigated the autonomous transportation of an object by a swarm of two rope-tethered quadcopters, where the introduced path planning algorithm enables the swarm to approach, grasp, lift and transport the load.

I’m excited to join Bitcraze as part of the team, where I can further develop my skills and gain valuable work experience. My principal objective is to improve the Lighthouse Positioning System and contribute to the development of a new solution for tracking in larger volumes. During this time, I look forward to deepen my knowledge on Bitcraze’s products and learn how they apply in real-world applications.