Distributed Control of Robotized Nodes in a Hybrid Wireless Sensor Network

Abstract

Over the past decade, wireless sensor networks (WSN) have provoked the interest of specialists from different areas by imposing a large number of theoretical and practical challenges related to their implementation. The inclusion of mobile robots into the WSN structure is a recently observed trend. Robots can provide flexibility with respect to the installation of the network sensors and allow active information gathering. If necessary, robots can perform desired or based on real-time observations interaction with the environment. The present paper describes a work-in-progress aiming to build laboratory prototype of a robotized hybrid WSN. The latter can be used for various distributed control experiments over the network structure and its efficiency and will help to propose solutions that would unlock the full potential of hybrid wireless sensor networks with integrated mobile nodes. The goal is to transform the network into an adaptive sensor system with intelligent behavior. Robotized wireless sensor nodes have been designed and configured and their functionality has been experimentally tested on path planning and multivehicle collaborative control problems. The on-board wireless communications of the robotized nodes allow them to easily communicate with other nodes facilitating the development of collaborative controllers. The basic framework for multivehicle communications between two robotized WSN nodes has been used in the carried on real-time experiments.