Robotic Wireless Sensor Networks

In this chapter, we present a literature survey of an emerging, cutting-edge, and multi-disciplinary field of research at the intersection of Robotics and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) which we refer to as Robotic Wireless Sensor Networks (RWSN). We define a RWSN as an autonomous networked multi-robot system that aims to achieve certain sensing goals while meeting and maintaining certain communication performance requirements, through cooperative control, learning and adaptation. While both of the component areas, i.e., Robotics and WSN, are very well-known and well-explored, there exist a whole set of new opportunities and research directions at the intersection of these two fields which are relatively or even completely unexplored. One such example would be the use of a set of robotic routers to set up a temporary communication path between a sender and a receiver that uses the controlled mobility to the advantage of packet routing. We find that there exist only a limited number of articles to be directly categorized as RWSN related works whereas there exist a range of articles in the robotics and the WSN literature that are also relevant to this new field of research. To connect the dots, we first identify the core problems and research trends related to RWSN such as connectivity, localization, routing, and robust flow of information. Next, we classify the existing research on RWSN as well as the relevant state-of-the-arts from robotics and WSN community according to the problems and trends identified in the first step. Lastly, we analyze what is missing in the existing literature, and identify topics that require more research attention in the future

INSPIRE Newsletter Summer 2017

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Future Roles for Autonomous Vertical Lift in Disaster Relief and Emergency Response

System analysis concepts are applied to the assessment of potential collaborative contributions of autonomous system and vertical lift (a.k.a. rotorcraft, VTOL, powered-lift, etc.) technologies to the important, and perhaps underemphasized, application domain of disaster relief and emergency response. In particular, an analytic framework is outlined whereby system design functional requirements for an application domain can be derived from defined societal good goals and objectives

The robot programming network

The Robot Programming Network (RPN) is an initiative for creating a network of robotics education laboratories with remote programming capabilities. It consists of both online open course materials and online servers that are ready to execute and test the programs written by remote students. Online materials include introductory course modules on robot programming, mobile robotics and humanoids, aimed to learn from basic concepts in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to more advanced programming skills. The students have access to the online server hosts, where they submit and run their programming code on the fly. The hosts run a variety of robot simulation environments, and access to real robots can also be granted, upon successful achievement of the course modules. The learning materials provide step-by-step guidance for solving problems with increasing level of dif- ficulty. Skill tests and challenges are given for checking the success, and online competitions are scheduled for additional motivation and fun. Use of standard robotics middleware (ROS) allows the system to be extended to a large number of robot platforms, and connected to other existing tele-laboratories for building a large social network for online teaching of robotics.Support of IEEE RAS through the CEMRA program (Creation of Educational Material for Robotics and Automation) is gratefully acknowledged. This paper describes research done at the Robotic Intelligence Laboratory. Support for this laboratory is provided in part by Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (DPI2011-27846), by Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEOII/2014/028) and by Universitat Jaume I (P1-1B2011-54)

On Small Satellites for Oceanography: A Survey

The recent explosive growth of small satellite operations driven primarily from an academic or pedagogical need, has demonstrated the viability of commercial-off-the-shelf technologies in space. They have also leveraged and shown the need for development of compatible sensors primarily aimed for Earth observation tasks including monitoring terrestrial domains, communications and engineering tests. However, one domain that these platforms have not yet made substantial inroads into, is in the ocean sciences. Remote sensing has long been within the repertoire of tools for oceanographers to study dynamic large scale physical phenomena, such as gyres and fronts, bio-geochemical process transport, primary productivity and process studies in the coastal ocean. We argue that the time has come for micro and nano satellites (with mass smaller than 100 kg and 2 to 3 year development times) designed, built, tested and flown by academic departments, for coordinated observations with robotic assets in situ. We do so primarily by surveying SmallSat missions oriented towards ocean observations in the recent past, and in doing so, we update the current knowledge about what is feasible in the rapidly evolving field of platforms and sensors for this domain. We conclude by proposing a set of candidate ocean observing missions with an emphasis on radar-based observations, with a focus on Synthetic Aperture Radar.Comment: 63 pages, 4 figures, 8 table

New Method for Localization and Human Being Detection using UWB Technology: Helpful Solution for Rescue Robots

International audienceTwo challenges for rescue robots are to detect human beings and to have an accurate positioning system. In indoor positioning, GPS receivers cannot be used due to the reflections or attenuation caused by obstacles. To detect human beings, sensors such as thermal camera, ultrasonic and microphone can be embedded on the rescue robot. The drawback of these sensors is the detection range. These sensors have to be in close proximity to the victim in order to detect it. UWB technology is then very helpful to ensure precise localization of the rescue robot inside the disaster site and detect human beings. We propose a new method to both detect human beings and locate the rescue robot at the same time. To achieve these goals we optimize the design of UWB pulses based on B-splines. The spectral effectiveness is optimized so the symbols are easier to detect and the mitigation with noise is reduced. Our positioning system performs to locate the rescue robot with an accuracy about 2 centimeters. During some tests we discover that UWB signal characteristics abruptly change after passing through a human body. Our system uses this particular signature to detect human body