Algorithms for keeping connectivity and communication efficiency in Ad-hoc networks of multi-robotic systems

Abstract

Ad hoc networks rely on local and unpredictable network connections due to mobility, restricted transmission range and physical environmental constraints. In such networks, devices connect spontaneously to other devices that are within their spatially limited transmission range, and some of these devices are able to connect to a backbone network or to a node that can build a backbone network between nodes. We consider here a generalized model for such structure in which a mobile subnetwork composed by independent agents (robots) plays the role of a backbone. In this new model, two important concurrent issues are at stake: a) how to keep connectivity in this mobile backbone under the usual constraints impending on ad hoc networks plus a need for running a path plan, and b) how to keep high communication efficiency for the communication network as a whole. We propose to implement and study variations on the combination of two algorithms that tackle those issues separately and that have been developed independently by the groups participating in the research. Apart from the expected technical contributions, our aim is to establish an international cooperation on the application of Artificial Intelligence and Distributed Control to relevant problems in complex agent communication systems. (AU)