Horizon Hive: Autonomous Surveillance Drone Swarm
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Course Work

Horizon Hive: Autonomous Surveillance Drone Swarm

ROS2 C++ Simulation Control Computer Vision Swarm Drones

Overview

A decentralised autonomous drone swarm for multi-scenario surveillance, built in ROS2 Humble with a custom PID controller, scenario detection, and a no-terminal GUI.

Details

Robotics Studio 1 (Spring 2025) · High Distinction

A fully autonomous drone swarm built in ROS2 Humble using C++ and Ignition Fortress. The end product features a GUI where no terminal commands are needed, drones operate autonomously and can be controlled individually or collectively, and a custom pinhole model accurately predicts the location of detected scenarios.

My Contributions

  • Team lead: managed all task allocation and software via Jira and GitKraken
  • Overall software architecture designed across multiple isolated packages (simulation, drone, GUI, perception)
  • Custom URDF drone model equipped with two cameras, 2D LiDAR, and sonar
  • Custom PID controller for accurate velocity control, each axis independently tuned
  • Drone node handling all control logic including custom path-planning and obstacle avoidance
  • GUI functionality via bash command dispatch, no terminal required for operation
  • Node composition to optimise thread count and system performance
  • Scenario detection and reaction system using custom ROS2 services and clients, scales to any number of scenarios
  • Taught the team git best practices, clean architecture patterns, and scalable ROS2 development

Repositories: Robot · GUI · Perception · Environment