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

Resilient Wireless Sensor Networks Using Topology Control: A Review

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) may be deployed in failure-prone environments, and WSNs nodes easily fail due to unreliable wireless connections, malicious attacks and resource-constrained features. Nevertheless, if WSNs can tolerate at most losing k − 1 nodes while the rest of nodes remain connected, the network is called k − connected. k is one of the most important indicators for WSNs’ self-healing capability. Following a WSN design flow, this paper surveys resilience issues from the topology control and multi-path routing point of view. This paper provides a discussion on transmission and failure models, which have an important impact on research results. Afterwards, this paper reviews theoretical results and representative topology control approaches to guarantee WSNs to be k − connected at three different network deployment stages: pre-deployment, post-deployment and re-deployment. Multi-path routing protocols are discussed, and many NP-complete or NP-hard problems regarding topology control are identified. The challenging open issues are discussed at the end. This paper can serve as a guideline to design resilient WSNs

Remotely piloted aircraft systems and a wireless sensors network for radiological accidents

In critical radiological situations, the real time information that we could get from the disaster area becomes of great importance. However, communication systems could be affected after a radiological accident. The proposed network in this research consists of distributed sensors in charge of collecting radiological data and ground vehicles that are sent to the nuclear plant at the moment of the accident to sense environmental and radiological information. Afterwards, data would be analyzed in the control center. Collected data by sensors and ground vehicles would be delivered to a control center using Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) as a message carrier. We analyze the pairwise contacts, as well as visiting times, data collection, capacity of the links, size of the transmission window of the sensors, and so forth. All this calculus was made analytically and compared via network simulations.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Applications and case studies in oil refineries

The widespread adoption of wireless systems for industrial automation calls for the development of efficient tools for virtual planning of network deployments similarly as done for conventional Fieldbus and wired systems. In industrial sites the radio signal propagation is subject to blockage due to highly dense metallic structures. Network planning should therefore account for the number and the density of the 3D obstructions surrounding each link. In this paper we address the problem of wireless node deployment in wireless industrial networks, with special focus on WirelessHART IEC 62591 and ISA SP100 IEC 62734 standards. The goal is to optimize the network connectivity and develop an effective tool that can work in complex industrial sites characterized by severe obstructions. The proposed node deployment approach is validated through a case study in an oil refinery environment. It includes an ad-hoc simulation environment (RFSim tool) that implements the proposed network planning approach using 2D models of the plant, providing connectivity information based on user-defined deployment configurations. Simulation results obtained using the proposed simulation environment were validated by on-site measurements

Towards a network management solution for vehicular delay-tolerant networks

Vehicular networks appeared as a new communication solution where vehicles act as a communication infrastructure, providing data communications through vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) or vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications. Vehicular Delay-Tolerant Networks (VDTNs) are a new disruptive network architecture assuming delay tolerant networking paradigm where there are no end-to-end connectivity. In this case the incial node transmits the data to a closed node, the data will be carried by vehicles, hop to hop until the destination. This dissertation focuses on a proposal of a network management solution, based standard protocol Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to VDTN networks. The developed solution allows control a VDTN netowork through a Network Management System (NMS) with the objective to detect and, if it’s possible, anticipate, possible errors on network. The research methodology used was the prototyping. So, it was built a network management module to the laboratorial prototype, called VDTN@Lab. The system built include a MIB (Management Information Base) placed in all vehicular network nodes. The solution was built, demonstrated, validated and evaluated their performance, being ready for use.As redes veiculares foram desenhadas para permitir que os veículos possam transportar dados criando assim um novo tipo de redes, caracterizando-se por dois tipos de comunicação: comunicações veículo-para-veículo (V2V) ou comunicações veículo-parainfra-estrutura (V2I). Redes veiculares intermitentes (do Inglês Vehicular Delay-Tolerant Networks - VDTNs) surgiram como uma nova arquitectura de rede de dados onde os veículos são utilizados como infra-estruturas de comunicação. As VDTNs caracterizam-se por serem redes veiculares baseadas no paradigma de comunicações intermitentes. Nas redes VDTN não existe uma ligação permanente extremo a extremo entre o emissor e o receptor. Neste caso, o nó inicial transmite os dados para um nó que esteja junto dele e assim sucessivamente, os dados vão sendo transportados pelos veículos, salto a salto até ao destinatário final. Esta dissertação centra-se na proposta de uma solução de gestão de rede, baseada no protocolo estandardizado Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) para redes VDTN. A solução construída permite controlar uma rede VDTN através de um sistema de gestão de rede (do Inglês Network Management System - NMS) com o objectivo de detectar e, se possível antecipar, possíveis erros na rede. A metodologia de investigação utilizada foi a prototipagem. Assim, foi construído um módulo de gestão de redes para o protótipo laboratorial, chamado VDTN@Lab. O sistema construído inclui uma MIB (Management Information Base) que é colocada em todos os nós de uma rede veicular, tanto fixos como móveis. A solução foi construída, demonstrada, validade e avaliado o seu desempenho, estando assim pronta para ser utilizada