Maintaining wireless communication coverage among multiple mobile robots using fuzzy neural network

This paper introduces a decentralized control scheme for deploying multiple mobile robots into an unknown realistic environment with the fluctuating signal propagation condition to establish and maintain desired wireless communication connections. A fuzzy neural network controller is designed for each robot, trained by the backpropagation algorithm, and applied to decide the motion for each robot, based on perceived wireless link quality. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme can establish and maintain effective communication coverage under the documented path loss exponents and uncertainties, and cause the average link quality to converge towards the desired range.

[1]  Qun Li,et al.  Navigation protocols in sensor networks , 2005, TOSN.

[2]  Ronald C. Arkin,et al.  Internalized plans for communication-sensitive robot team behaviors , 2003, Proceedings 2003 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2003) (Cat. No.03CH37453).

[3]  M. Ani Hsieh,et al.  Constructing radio signal strength maps with multiple robots , 2004, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2004. Proceedings. ICRA '04. 2004.

[4]  Shelby Montague Tutorial on Neural Systems Modeling , 2011, The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine.

[5]  Michael Ian Shamos,et al.  Computational geometry: an introduction , 1985 .

[6]  Matthew Powers,et al.  Value-Based Communication Preservation for Mobile Robots , 2004, DARS.

[7]  Kuang-Ching Wang,et al.  Channel Characterization and Link Quality Assessment of IEEE 802.15.4-Compliant Radio for Factory Environments , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics.

[8]  Mischa Schwartz,et al.  Mobile Wireless Communications: Access and scheduling techniques in cellular systems , 2004 .

[9]  Mamoru Tanaka,et al.  Path planning method for multi‐robots using a cellular neural network , 1998 .

[10]  Luis Montano,et al.  Enforcing Network Connectivity in Robot Team Missions , 2010, Int. J. Robotics Res..

[11]  Theodore S. Rappaport,et al.  Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice (2nd Edition) by , 2012 .

[12]  Kazuhiro Ohkura,et al.  A homogeneous mobile robot team that is fault-tolerant , 2006, Adv. Eng. Informatics.

[13]  P. Levis,et al.  RSSI is Under Appreciated , 2006 .

[14]  Lincoln Smith,et al.  Evolving controllers for a homogeneous system of physical robots: structured cooperation with minimal sensors , 2003, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.

[15]  R. Sreerama Kumar,et al.  An artificial neural network based dynamic controller for a robot in a multi-agent system , 2009, Neurocomputing.

[16]  M. Ani Hsieh,et al.  Towards the deployment of a mobile robot network with end-to-end performance guarantees , 2006, Proceedings 2006 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2006. ICRA 2006..

[17]  Malrey Lee,et al.  Evolution of behaviors in autonomous robot using artificial neural network and genetic algorithm , 2003, Inf. Sci..

[18]  N Yurai A Distributed Algorithm for Computing Voronoi Diagram in the Unit Disk Graph Model , 2008 .

[19]  M. Ani Hsieh,et al.  Maintaining network connectivity and performance in robot teams , 2008, J. Field Robotics.

[20]  R. Sreerama Kumar,et al.  Intelligent task planning and action selection of a mobile robot in a multi-agent system through a fuzzy neural network approach , 2007, Eng. Appl. Artif. Intell..

[21]  R. Sreerama Kumar,et al.  Intelligent decision making in multi-agent robot soccer system through compounded artificial neural networks , 2007, Robotics Auton. Syst..

[22]  Waleed Alsalih,et al.  A Distributed Algorithm for Computing Voronoi Diagram in the Unit Disk Graph Model , 2008, CCCG.

[23]  S. Sivanandam,et al.  Introduction to Fuzzy Logic using MATLAB , 2006 .