Route swarm: Wireless network optimization through mobility

In this paper, we demonstrate a novel hybrid architecture for coordinating networked robots in sensing and information routing applications. The proposed INformation and Sensing driven PhysIcally REconfigurable robotic network (INSPIRE), consists of a Physical Control Plane (PCP) which commands agent position, and an Information Control Plane (ICP) which regulates information flow towards communication/sensing objectives. We describe an instantiation where a mobile robotic network is dynamically reconfigured to ensure high quality routes between static wireless nodes, which act as source/destination pairs for information flow. We demonstrate our propositions through simulation under a realistic wireless network regime.

[1]  Richard M. Murray,et al.  Information flow and cooperative control of vehicle formations , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control.

[2]  Gaurav S. Sukhatme,et al.  Locally constrained connectivity control in mobile robot networks , 2013, 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[3]  George J. Pappas,et al.  Distributed connectivity control of mobile networks , 2007, 2007 46th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control.

[4]  Thomas F. La Porta,et al.  Bidding Protocols for Deploying Mobile Sensors , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing.

[5]  Siddhartha S. Srinivasa,et al.  Decentralized estimation and control of graph connectivity in mobile sensor networks , 2008, 2008 American Control Conference.

[6]  Athina P. Petropulu,et al.  A distributed algorithm for cooperative relay beamforming , 2013, 2013 American Control Conference.

[7]  Jie Lin,et al.  Towards mobility as a network control primitive , 2004, MobiHoc '04.

[8]  Dimos V. Dimarogonas,et al.  Inverse Agreement Protocols With Application to Distributed Multi-Agent Dispersion , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control.

[9]  Magnus Egerstedt,et al.  Distributed Coordination Control of Multiagent Systems While Preserving Connectedness , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

[10]  Reza Olfati-Saber,et al.  Flocking for multi-agent dynamic systems: algorithms and theory , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control.

[11]  Yasamin Mostofi,et al.  Robotic Router Formation in Realistic Communication Environments , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

[12]  Dimos V. Dimarogonas,et al.  Connectedness Preserving Distributed Swarm Aggregation for Multiple Kinematic Robots , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

[13]  Marco Zuniga,et al.  An analysis of unreliability and asymmetry in low-power wireless links , 2007, TOSN.

[14]  Kevin M. Passino,et al.  Stability analysis of swarms , 2003, IEEE Trans. Autom. Control..

[15]  Lorenzo Sabattini,et al.  Distributed Control of Multirobot Systems With Global Connectivity Maintenance , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

[16]  Gaurav S. Sukhatme,et al.  A framework for multi-robot node coverage in sensor networks , 2008, Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence.

[17]  Gaurav S. Sukhatme,et al.  Constrained Interaction and Coordination in Proximity-Limited Multiagent Systems , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Robotics.