Communication-assisted Topology Control of Semi-autonomous Robots

Abstract

Groups of autonomous and semi-autonomous robots are being used in many different applications. Similarly, wireless ad hoc networks are being used more and more as their communication platform of choice because they are infrastructureless, self-configurable and self-forming networks with multi-hop capabilities. However, uncontrolled node mobility may still cause partitions in the network topology, isolating robots from the network or even losing them, hindering the mission's success. In this paper, we propose a cross layer design-based control layer algorithm that finds and maintains stable links among the mobile nodes and the main controller