Adoption of vehicular ad hoc networking protocols by networked robots

This paper focuses on the utilization of wireless networking in the robotics domain. Many researchers have already equipped their robots with wireless communication capabilities, stimulated by the observation that multi-robot systems tend to have several advantages over their single-robot counterparts. Typically, this integration of wireless communication is tackled in a quite pragmatic manner, only a few authors presented novel Robotic Ad Hoc Network (RANET) protocols that were designed specifically with robotic use cases in mind. This is in sharp contrast with the domain of vehicular ad hoc networks (VANET). This observation is the starting point of this paper. If the results of previous efforts focusing on VANET protocols could be reused in the RANET domain, this could lead to rapid progress in the field of networked robots. To investigate this possibility, this paper provides a thorough overview of the related work in the domain of robotic and vehicular ad hoc networks. Based on this information, an exhaustive list of requirements is defined for both types. It is concluded that the most significant difference lies in the fact that VANET protocols are oriented towards low throughput messaging, while RANET protocols have to support high throughput media streaming as well. Although not always with equal importance, all other defined requirements are valid for both protocols. This leads to the conclusion that cross-fertilization between them is an appealing approach for future RANET research. To support such developments, this paper concludes with the definition of an appropriate working plan

Position Tracking in Voluntary Search and Rescue Operation

-This paper describes how enthusiasts from the radio-amateur and red-cross communities developed and applied position tracking to search and rescue services in Norway. This was based on the APRS standard which has been used by radio-amateurs for some time. The document describes how radio-amateurs designed a tracking device which was robust and simple to use along with a web-based online service, a map server, to display positions along with other geographical information on electronic maps. The software for the tracker and the map server is free and open source. This system has been used in a number of search and rescue missions in Norway since 2009, to support decisions making in the command and control centre

Leveraging Communicating UAVs for Emergency Vehicle Guidance in Urban Areas

International audienceThe response time to emergency situations in urban areas is considered as a crucial key in limiting material damage or even saving human lives. Thanks to their "bird's eye view" and their flexible mobility, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can be a promising candidate for several vital applications. Under these perspectives, we investigate the use of communicating UAVs to detect any incident on the road, provide rescue teams with their exact locations, and plot the fastest path to intervene, while considering the constraints of the roads. To efficiently inform the rescue services, a robust routing scheme is introduced to ensure a high level of communication stability based on an efficient backbone, while considering both the high mobility and the restricted energy capacity of UAVs. This allows both predicting any routing path breakage prior to its occurrence, and carrying out a balanced energy consumption among UAVs. To ensure a rapid intervention by rescue teams, UAVs communicate in an ad hoc fashion with existing vehicles on the ground to estimate the fluidity of the roads. Our system is implemented and evaluated through a series of experiments. The reported results show that each part of the system reliably succeeds in achieving its planned objective

Multiagent Connected Path Planning: PSPACE-Completeness and How to Deal with It

open5openD. Tateo, J. Banfi, A. Riva, F. Amigoni, A. BonariniTateo, Davide; Banfi, J.; Riva, Alessandro; Amigoni, F.; Bonarini, A