Generic ROS-based Architecture for Heterogeneous Multi-Autonomous Systems Development

Abstract

Autonomous systems have been considered a strong field of attraction to the research community in the last few decades. Accordingly, this paper proposes a design and implementation of a generalized Robot Operating System (ROS) based architecture applicable for multi-autonomous systems in heterogeneous environments. The architecture allows inter-robotic data exchange for Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication by integrating embedded systems into the architecture structure. Moreover, the proposed architecture is a hierarchical one composed of three layers connected through various communication protocols, and characterized by being affordable, powerful and expansible. The architecture has been tested on three different platforms; autonomous mobile robot, autonomous vehicle and autonomous quad-copter. Results of the conducted experiments showed stability and successful operation of the proposed architecture.