Decentralized Multi-Drone Coverage Path Planning with Adaptive Path Deconfliction

Decentralized Multi-Drone Coverage Path Planning with Adaptive Path Deconfliction | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Decentralized Multi-Drone Coverage Path Planning with Adaptive Path Deconfliction Lidia Rocha, Kelen Vivaldini, Frederico Gonçalves, Mauricio Schiezaro This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8779568/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 14 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Decentralized multi-UAV coverage approaches often remain inefficient due to weak inter-agent coordination and the lack of mechanisms that promote coherent global organization under limited communication. To address these challenges, we present a fully decentralized coverage framework that integrates frontier-based local exploration with implicit region allocation emerging from decentralized map fusion and repeated frontier competition. This process induces balanced and non-overlapping exploration behavior without explicit partition computation or centralized supervision. A Kalman-based trajectory prediction module is incorporated directly into the planning process to anticipate inter-agent interactions, enabling proactive deconfliction and safer multi-robot navigation using only local information. Experiments in indoor and outdoor environments demonstrate an average reduction of over 27% in unvisited-cell rate, a 91% decrease in path overlap and redundancy in decentralized flights, and 58% faster coverage compared to classical decentralized baselines. Coverage Multi-UAV Planning Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 03 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 30 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 21 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 18 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 16 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 20 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 18 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 17 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 17 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 16 Feb, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 16 Feb, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 05 Feb, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 05 Feb, 2026 First submitted to journal 03 Feb, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8779568","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":593463312,"identity":"aa9b9bd7-b6ac-4b69-90f5-06fc349f5807","order_by":0,"name":"Lidia Rocha","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABDklEQVRIie3Qv0sDMRTA8VcO4hKa9UmP/g2Bg4ztv/JKwS43VA7kQJED4SbdPfwnLP0HrgTOJTgrLaVTJ4d0EQcR5YpgMeePTSTfKZD3IeQB+Hx/sHYAsqxPCK3V7h26CftAArk710QA5PsAw5+RvWBSPsGyK67O1sc8XZzKuYkspMte1rlYOUnAxrNzSCJcVGrOzRrlbawQTDLMwhvpJlyWHGhwjaTui1yjNFxBK6ch4EHD97mcPddk9HhYvNQkst8RvX0lVrDJaiLxjfSaCRvrUFKEd3GCttL7hWFHSIaIhZWTCKGnm4eUuuJyNLF0okXbBFNrU+qLTu4k2z5thgAGXwF3/V8Ln8/n+6+9AgxxVvfKI0+tAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Venturus","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lidia","middleName":"","lastName":"Rocha","suffix":""},{"id":593463314,"identity":"d84667c5-42e2-4ef0-879f-9bf356c6781f","order_by":1,"name":"Kelen Vivaldini","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Federal University of São Carlos","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kelen","middleName":"","lastName":"Vivaldini","suffix":""},{"id":593463316,"identity":"c40d21bc-3da3-4ff6-9043-57af25172f60","order_by":2,"name":"Frederico Gonçalves","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Venturus","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Frederico","middleName":"","lastName":"Gonçalves","suffix":""},{"id":593463318,"identity":"722c33f1-5832-4ddf-a295-d7de0217f140","order_by":3,"name":"Mauricio Schiezaro","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Venturus","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mauricio","middleName":"","lastName":"Schiezaro","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-03 19:53:17","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8779568/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8779568/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":103049525,"identity":"a3077741-a5e7-4610-8850-18103c8436f7","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-20 07:42:09","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":3048224,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"2026ArticleMulticoverageLidia.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8779568/v1_covered_f0ac0515-0303-4ca8-b51b-73f2acaf3067.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Decentralized Multi-Drone Coverage Path Planning with Adaptive Path Deconfliction","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"international-journal-of-intelligent-robotics-and-applications","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"jira","sideBox":"Learn more about [International Journal of Intelligent Robotics and Applications](https://www.springer.com/journal/41315)","snPcode":"41315","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/41315/3","title":"International Journal of Intelligent Robotics and Applications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Coverage, Multi-UAV, Planning","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8779568/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8779568/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eDecentralized multi-UAV coverage approaches often remain inefficient due to weak inter-agent coordination and the lack of mechanisms that promote coherent global organization under limited communication. 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