System architecture for guided herd of robots exploring Titan

Abstract

This paper describes a system architecture for an aerobot blimp guiding and controlling a herd of sondes on Titan's surface. Options for inertial navigation are proposed that make use of a direct communication link to Earth. A potential field controller is used for autonomous tracking of terrain features on the surface, and hazard avoidance. The result of distributed simulation studies demonstrate that the method used for control is feasible even if significant uncertainty exists in the dynamics and environmental models.