NetLogo Drone Simulator

A small NetLogo simulator for experimenting with drone deployment, field-of-view visualization, and scan rotation behavior.

The main model in this project is [Drones.nlogox]. It lets you place one or more drones on a 2D grid, adjust their viewing cone, and compare different FOV rendering modes.

Features

• Deploy a single drone at a chosen x, y, and heading
• Deploy multiple drones in vertical or horizontal line formations
• Adjust field-of-view angle and detection range
• Toggle between outline, filled scan, and "real" shaded FOV views
• Rotate drones continuously or within a limited sweep angle
• Show or hide drone labels
• Randomize the next drone spawn point and heading

Built With

• NetLogo 7.0.0

Files

• [Drones.nlogox] - main drone-only simulator
• [Main.nlogox] - alternate model variant with an ally and drones
• [Dronest1.nlogox] - experimental drone model variant

How To Run

1. Install NetLogo 7.0.0 or a compatible version.
2. Open NetLogo.
3. Load [Drones.nlogox].
4. Click SETUP.
5. Use the deploy controls to create drones.
6. Click START to animate rotation and update the scene over time.

Interface Overview

Main controls

• SETUP resets the simulator and prepares a fresh scene
• START runs the simulation loop
• RESET SLIDERS restores the default control values
• CLEAR clears the world and resets ticks

FOV controls

• fov-angle sets the viewing cone width in degrees
• fov-length sets the viewing distance
• FOV turns field-of-view rendering on or off
• FILLED switches between outline mode and filled scan-line mode
• REAL shades patches that fall inside the drone's true angular/radius bounds

Deployment controls

• Deploy-X sets the next drone's x-coordinate
• Deploy-Y sets the next drone's y-coordinate
• Deploy-A sets the next drone heading in degrees
• DEPLOY DRONES creates one drone using the current deploy settings
• Random picks a random deploy position and heading
• Zero resets deploy coordinates and heading to 0
• Angle buttons (0 deg through 315 deg) quickly set common headings

Formation controls

• Deploy-Count sets how many drones to create in a line
• Deploy-Spacing sets spacing between drones
• DEPLOY LINE Y creates a vertical line formation
• DEPLOY LINE X creates a horizontal line formation

Rotation controls

• Rotate-Drones enables or disables automatic drone rotation
• Rotate-Angle sets the sweep range
• Rotate-Speed sets how fast drones rotate

Labels

• Labels shows or hides drone names

Default Behavior

When the controls are reset, the simulator starts with:

• fov-length = 5
• fov-angle = 60
• Deploy-Count = 3
• Deploy-Spacing = 2
• Deploy-X = 0
• Deploy-Y = 0
• Deploy-A = 0
• Rotate-Angle = 360
• Rotate-Speed = 5

Example Experiments

• Compare FILLED and REAL modes to see the difference between a visual scan effect and actual area coverage
• Set Rotate-Angle below 360 to simulate back-and-forth scanning
• Spawn drone lines with different spacing values to study overlapping coverage
• Turn labels on when testing formations so each drone is easier to track

Publishing Notes

If you are uploading this to GitHub, a good repository description would be:

NetLogo drone simulator for deployment, field-of-view visualization, and rotating scan behavior.

Suggested topics:

• netlogo
• simulation
• drone-simulator
• agent-based-modeling
• field-of-view
• visualization

Future Improvements

• Add obstacles or terrain
• Add moving targets or patrol logic
• Detect overlap between drone coverage zones
• Export screenshots or metrics from runs
• Add mission scenarios such as search sweeps or perimeter scans