4,210 research outputs found
Living IoT: A Flying Wireless Platform on Live Insects
Sensor networks with devices capable of moving could enable applications
ranging from precision irrigation to environmental sensing. Using mechanical
drones to move sensors, however, severely limits operation time since flight
time is limited by the energy density of current battery technology. We explore
an alternative, biology-based solution: integrate sensing, computing and
communication functionalities onto live flying insects to create a mobile IoT
platform.
Such an approach takes advantage of these tiny, highly efficient biological
insects which are ubiquitous in many outdoor ecosystems, to essentially provide
mobility for free. Doing so however requires addressing key technical
challenges of power, size, weight and self-localization in order for the
insects to perform location-dependent sensing operations as they carry our IoT
payload through the environment. We develop and deploy our platform on
bumblebees which includes backscatter communication, low-power
self-localization hardware, sensors, and a power source. We show that our
platform is capable of sensing, backscattering data at 1 kbps when the insects
are back at the hive, and localizing itself up to distances of 80 m from the
access points, all within a total weight budget of 102 mg.Comment: Co-primary authors: Vikram Iyer, Rajalakshmi Nandakumar, Anran Wang,
In Proceedings of Mobicom. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 15 pages, 201
A New Vehicle Localization Scheme Based on Combined Optical Camera Communication and Photogrammetry
The demand for autonomous vehicles is increasing gradually owing to their
enormous potential benefits. However, several challenges, such as vehicle
localization, are involved in the development of autonomous vehicles. A simple
and secure algorithm for vehicle positioning is proposed herein without
massively modifying the existing transportation infrastructure. For vehicle
localization, vehicles on the road are classified into two categories: host
vehicles (HVs) are the ones used to estimate other vehicles' positions and
forwarding vehicles (FVs) are the ones that move in front of the HVs. The FV
transmits modulated data from the tail (or back) light, and the camera of the
HV receives that signal using optical camera communication (OCC). In addition,
the streetlight (SL) data are considered to ensure the position accuracy of the
HV. Determining the HV position minimizes the relative position variation
between the HV and FV. Using photogrammetry, the distance between FV or SL and
the camera of the HV is calculated by measuring the occupied image area on the
image sensor. Comparing the change in distance between HV and SLs with the
change in distance between HV and FV, the positions of FVs are determined. The
performance of the proposed technique is analyzed, and the results indicate a
significant improvement in performance. The experimental distance measurement
validated the feasibility of the proposed scheme
PHALANX: Expendable Projectile Sensor Networks for Planetary Exploration
Technologies enabling long-term, wide-ranging measurement in hard-to-reach areas are a critical need for planetary science inquiry. Phenomena of interest include flows or variations in volatiles, gas composition or concentration, particulate density, or even simply temperature. Improved measurement of these processes enables understanding of exotic geologies and distributions or correlating indicators of trapped water or biological activity. However, such data is often needed in unsafe areas such as caves, lava tubes, or steep ravines not easily reached by current spacecraft and planetary robots. To address this capability gap, we have developed miniaturized, expendable sensors which can be ballistically lobbed from a robotic rover or static lander - or even dropped during a flyover. These projectiles can perform sensing during flight and after anchoring to terrain features. By augmenting exploration systems with these sensors, we can extend situational awareness, perform long-duration monitoring, and reduce utilization of primary mobility resources, all of which are crucial in surface missions. We call the integrated payload that includes a cold gas launcher, smart projectiles, planning software, network discovery, and science sensing: PHALANX. In this paper, we introduce the mission architecture for PHALANX and describe an exploration concept that pairs projectile sensors with a rover mothership. Science use cases explored include reconnaissance using ballistic cameras, volatiles detection, and building timelapse maps of temperature and illumination conditions. Strategies to autonomously coordinate constellations of deployed sensors to self-discover and localize with peer ranging (i.e. a local GPS) are summarized, thus providing communications infrastructure beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) of the rover. Capabilities were demonstrated through both simulation and physical testing with a terrestrial prototype. The approach to developing a terrestrial prototype is discussed, including design of the launching mechanism, projectile optimization, micro-electronics fabrication, and sensor selection. Results from early testing and characterization of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components are reported. Nodes were subjected to successful burn-in tests over 48 hours at full logging duty cycle. Integrated field tests were conducted in the Roverscape, a half-acre planetary analog environment at NASA Ames, where we tested up to 10 sensor nodes simultaneously coordinating with an exploration rover. Ranging accuracy has been demonstrated to be within +/-10cm over 20m using commodity radios when compared to high-resolution laser scanner ground truthing. Evolution of the design, including progressive miniaturization of the electronics and iterated modifications of the enclosure housing for streamlining and optimized radio performance are described. Finally, lessons learned to date, gaps toward eventual flight mission implementation, and continuing future development plans are discussed
Survey of Inter-satellite Communication for Small Satellite Systems: Physical Layer to Network Layer View
Small satellite systems enable whole new class of missions for navigation,
communications, remote sensing and scientific research for both civilian and
military purposes. As individual spacecraft are limited by the size, mass and
power constraints, mass-produced small satellites in large constellations or
clusters could be useful in many science missions such as gravity mapping,
tracking of forest fires, finding water resources, etc. Constellation of
satellites provide improved spatial and temporal resolution of the target.
Small satellite constellations contribute innovative applications by replacing
a single asset with several very capable spacecraft which opens the door to new
applications. With increasing levels of autonomy, there will be a need for
remote communication networks to enable communication between spacecraft. These
space based networks will need to configure and maintain dynamic routes, manage
intermediate nodes, and reconfigure themselves to achieve mission objectives.
Hence, inter-satellite communication is a key aspect when satellites fly in
formation. In this paper, we present the various researches being conducted in
the small satellite community for implementing inter-satellite communications
based on the Open System Interconnection (OSI) model. This paper also reviews
the various design parameters applicable to the first three layers of the OSI
model, i.e., physical, data link and network layer. Based on the survey, we
also present a comprehensive list of design parameters useful for achieving
inter-satellite communications for multiple small satellite missions. Specific
topics include proposed solutions for some of the challenges faced by small
satellite systems, enabling operations using a network of small satellites, and
some examples of small satellite missions involving formation flying aspects.Comment: 51 pages, 21 Figures, 11 Tables, accepted in IEEE Communications
Surveys and Tutorial
Sub-Nanosecond Time of Flight on Commercial Wi-Fi Cards
Time-of-flight, i.e., the time incurred by a signal to travel from
transmitter to receiver, is perhaps the most intuitive way to measure distances
using wireless signals. It is used in major positioning systems such as GPS,
RADAR, and SONAR. However, attempts at using time-of-flight for indoor
localization have failed to deliver acceptable accuracy due to fundamental
limitations in measuring time on Wi-Fi and other RF consumer technologies.
While the research community has developed alternatives for RF-based indoor
localization that do not require time-of-flight, those approaches have their
own limitations that hamper their use in practice. In particular, many existing
approaches need receivers with large antenna arrays while commercial Wi-Fi
nodes have two or three antennas. Other systems require fingerprinting the
environment to create signal maps. More fundamentally, none of these methods
support indoor positioning between a pair of Wi-Fi devices
without~third~party~support.
In this paper, we present a set of algorithms that measure the time-of-flight
to sub-nanosecond accuracy on commercial Wi-Fi cards. We implement these
algorithms and demonstrate a system that achieves accurate device-to-device
localization, i.e. enables a pair of Wi-Fi devices to locate each other without
any support from the infrastructure, not even the location of the access
points.Comment: 14 page
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