The proposed leader-follower approach can be extended to handle more than two drones in the cooperative transport system by implementing a hierarchical control structure. In this extended setup, multiple followers can be coordinated under a single leader, forming a hierarchical multi-agent system. The leader drone would communicate with a higher-level controller that manages the overall task allocation and coordination among multiple followers. Each follower drone would then have its own deep RL-based controller, similar to the setup described for the two-drone system.
To scale the system to multiple drones, the leader-follower hierarchy can be cascaded, with leaders at different levels coordinating groups of followers. This hierarchical structure enables efficient communication and coordination among a larger number of drones, allowing for complex cooperative transport tasks involving multiple objects or payloads. By organizing the drones into hierarchical groups, the system can maintain stability and coordination while scaling up to handle more drones in the cooperative transport system.