Ad-hoc wireless network coverage with networked robots that cannot localize

We study a fully distributed, reactive algorithm for deployment and maintenance of a mobile communication backbone that provides an area around a network gateway with wireless network access for higher-level agents. Possible applications of such a network are distributed sensor networks as well as communication support for disaster or military operations. The algorithm has minimalist requirements on the individual robotic node and does not require any localization. This makes the proposed solution suitable for deployment of large numbers of comparably cheap mobile communication nodes and as a backup solution for more capable systems in GPS-denied environments. Robots keep exploring the configuration space by random walk and stop only if their current location satisfies user-specified constraints on connectivity (number of neighbors). Resulting deployments are robust and convergence is analyzed using both kinematic simulation with a simplified collision and communication model as well as a probabilistic macroscopic model. The approach is validated on a team of 9 iRobot Create robots carrying wireless access points in an indoor environment.

Authors

• Nikolaus Correll
• Jonathan Bachrach
• Daniel Vickery
• Daniela Rus

Keywords

• Wireless networks
• Mobile communication
• Robot sensing systems
• Orbital robotics
• Space exploration
• Spine
• Military communication
• Legged locomotion
• Robustness
• Kinematics
• Ad Hoc Networks
• Minimalist
• Probabilistic Model
• Random Walk
• Indoor Environments
• Sensor Networks
• Individual Nodes
• Macroscopic Model
• Mobile Nodes
• Deployment Algorithm
• Time Interval
• Uniform Distribution
• Random Distribution
• Coverage Area
• Mobile Network
• Convergence Of Algorithm
• Mobile Robot
• Virtual Machines
• Position Of The Robot
• Global Localization
• State Transition Probability
• Individual Robots
• Set Of Robots
• Swarm Robotics
• Robotic Platform
• Odometry
• Mesh Network
• Speed Of The Robot