Remote Motion Control of Micro Vehicles by Two-Way Laser Communication Technology

Abstract

A novel remote-control method for micro vehicles based on two-way laser communication is proposed. The vehicle receives operational commands in the frequency changes of a pulsed-laser. The laser also plays a role in tracking the vehicle by following the position of a corner-cube reflector equipped on the vehicle. At the same time, the vehicle returns information by means of a MEMS mirror equipped on the vehicle; the mirror transmits information as frequency changes in the light-path vibrations of the reflected laser-beam. The advantage of this system is that the all of these communication functions are achieved by a single laser beam; and the proposed method will contribute to simplify the mechanism and reduce the weight of micro vehicles. An experiment with a small wheeled-vehicle was conducted, and the results show that the concept exhibits a sufficiently accurate performance to control micro vehicles.