Symbiotic Navigation in Multi-Robot Systems with Remote Obstacle Knowledge Sharing

Large scale operational areas often require multiple service robots for coverage and task parallelism. In such scenarios, each robot keeps its individual map of the environment and serves specific areas of the map at different times. We propose a knowledge sharing mechanism for multiple robots in which one robot can inform other robots about the changes in map, like path blockage, or new static obstacles, encountered at specific areas of the map. This symbiotic information sharing allows the robots to update remote areas of the map without having to explicitly navigate those areas, and plan efficient paths. A node representation of paths is presented for seamless sharing of blocked path information. The transience of obstacles is modeled to track obstacles which might have been removed. A lazy information update scheme is presented in which only relevant information affecting the current task is updated for efficiency. The advantages of the proposed method for path planning are discussed against traditional method with experimental results in both simulation and real environments

Design of Event-Triggered Fault-Tolerant Control for Stochastic Systems with Time-Delays

This paper proposes two novel, event-triggered fault-tolerant control strategies for a class of stochastic systems with state delays. The plant is disturbed by a Gaussian process, actuator faults, and unknown disturbances. First, a special case about fault signals that are coupled to the unknown disturbances is discussed, and then a fault-tolerant strategy is designed based on an event condition on system states. Subsequently, a send-on-delta transmission framework is established to deal with the problem of fault-tolerant control strategy against fault signals separated from the external disturbances. Two criteria are provided to design feedback controllers in order to guarantee that the systems are exponentially mean-square stable, and the corresponding H∞-norm disturbance attenuation levels are achieved. Two theorems were obtained by synthesizing the feedback control gains and the desired event conditions in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Finally, two numerical examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed theoretical results

Classifier-Based Data Transmission Reduction in Wearable Sensor Network for Human Activity Monitoring

The recent development of wireless wearable sensor networks offers a spectrum of new applications in fields of healthcare, medicine, activity monitoring, sport, safety, human-machine interfacing, and beyond. Successful use of this technology depends on lifetime of the battery-powered sensor nodes. This paper presents a new method for extending the lifetime of the wearable sensor networks by avoiding unnecessary data transmissions. The introduced method is based on embedded classifiers that allow sensor nodes to decide if current sensor readings have to be transmitted to cluster head or not. In order to train the classifiers, a procedure was elaborated, which takes into account the impact of data selection on accuracy of a recognition system. This approach was implemented in a prototype of wearable sensor network for human activity monitoring. Real-world experiments were conducted to evaluate the new method in terms of network lifetime, energy consumption, and accuracy of human activity recognition. Results of the experimental evaluation have confirmed that, the proposed method enables significant prolongation of the network lifetime, while preserving high accuracy of the activity recognition. The experiments have also revealed advantages of the method in comparison with state-of-the-art algorithms for data transmission reduction

State-of-the-Art Sensors Technology in Spain 2015: Volume 1

This book provides a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art sensors technology in specific leading areas. Industrial researchers, engineers and professionals can find information on the most advanced technologies and developments, together with data processing. Further research covers specific devices and technologies that capture and distribute data to be processed by applying dedicated techniques or procedures, which is where sensors play the most important role. The book provides insights and solutions for different problems covering a broad spectrum of possibilities, thanks to a set of applications and solutions based on sensory technologies. Topics include: • Signal analysis for spectral power • 3D precise measurements • Electromagnetic propagation • Drugs detection • e-health environments based on social sensor networks • Robots in wireless environments, navigation, teleoperation, object grasping, demining • Wireless sensor networks • Industrial IoT • Insights in smart cities • Voice recognition • FPGA interfaces • Flight mill device for measurements on insects • Optical systems: UV, LEDs, lasers, fiber optics • Machine vision • Power dissipation • Liquid level in fuel tanks • Parabolic solar tracker • Force sensors • Control for a twin roto

Event-Based Control Strategy for Mobile Robots in Wireless Environments

In this paper, a new event-based control strategy for mobile robots is presented. It has been designed to work in wireless environments where a centralized controller has to interchange information with the robots over an RF (radio frequency) interface. The event-based architectures have been developed for differential wheeled robots, although they can be applied to other kinds of robots in a simple way. The solution has been checked over classical navigation algorithms, like wall following and obstacle avoidance, using scenarios with a unique or multiple robots. A comparison between the proposed architectures and the classical discrete-time strategy is also carried out. The experimental results shows that the proposed solution has a higher efficiency in communication resource usage than the classical discrete-time strategy with the same accuracy