Case Study: University of California, Berkeley achieves distributed UAV control with Cogent DataHub

DataHub is used to integrate data for distributed control of unmanned aerial vehicles

The University of California, Berkeley’s Vehicle Dynamics Lab was developing a coordinated control system for multiple unmanned aerial vehicles, with onboard computers, cameras, and communications that had to work together in real time. To manage the data exchange across communication, image processing, and task-control processes, the team used Cogent DataHub as a memory-resident, real-time database.

Cogent DataHub enabled the UAV software modules to share data on a publish-subscribe basis while restricting write access to the owning process, simplifying multi-process integration. This allowed onboard vision, communication, and task-allocation functions to operate seamlessly, supporting decentralized task allocation, direct aircraft-to-aircraft communication, and increasingly autonomous mission execution for the aircraft fleet.

University of California Berkeley

Brandon Basso

Vehicle Dynamics Lab Team Member