A control method for reconfigurable swarm of mobile robots with relay communication in order to monitor areal objects

A control method for reconfigurable swarm of mobile robots with relay communication in order to monitor areal objects

Anton Yu. Taranov
Federal State Budgetary Institution of Science «Federal Research Center Southern Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences» (SSC RAS), Engineer of the Information Technologies and Control Processes Laboratory of the Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Computer Science, 41, ul. Chekhova, Rostov-on-Don, Ave., 344006, Russia, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., ORCID: 0009-0004-7337-8140

Arina A. Rodina
SSC RAS, Junior Research Scientist of the Information Technologies and Control Processes Laboratory of the Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Computer Science, 41, ul. Chekhova, Rostov-on-Don, Ave., 344006, Russia, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., ORCID: 0000-0002-5934-9309

Received October 02, 2024

Abstract
In this paper, the problem of processing areal objects (which include, for example, agricultural lands, water bodies, forests, urbanized areas, etc.) using mobile autonomous robots is considered. The authors aimed to develop a method for controlling a swarm of low-budget mobile robots to solve problems related to the processing (primarily monitoring) of these objects. The problem was successfully solved by using a modified FABRIK algorithm, originally used to solve problems of inverse kinematics. The essence of the modification of this algorithm is to describe the boundary conditions in such a way that the distance between the swarm robots can vary within specified ranges, rather than remain constant, as assumed in the original algorithm. The developed control method for a reconfigurable swarm of mobile robots allows for the creation and management of an inexpensive swarm system of robots built using relay communication. Such a system, among other things, has the property of reconfigurability, which significantly improves its operational characteristics, increasing reliability. The efficiency of the proposed concept was confirmed by the results of the software model created based on the developed method.

Key words
Autonomous robots; UAVs; control; reconfiguration; data transmission.

Acknowledgments
The article was prepared as part of the implementation of GZ SSC RAS, project No. GR 125011200147-2.

EDN
OHGANW

Bibliographic description
Taranov, A.Yu. and Rodina, A.A. (2024), "A control method for reconfigurable swarm of mobile robots with relay communication in order to monitor areal objects", Robotics and Technical Cybernetics, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 41-49, EDN: OHGANW. (in Russian).

UDC identifier
62-5:007.52

References

  1. Taranov, A.Yu. and Ostroukhov, A.Yu. (2023), “Increasing energy efficiency in area-based tasks resolving by an
    autonomous robots swarm through relay communications”, Izvestiya Tula State University. Technical sciences, vol. 11, pp. 65-70, DOI: 10.24412/2071-6168-2023-11-65-66. (in Russian).
  2. Tajima, Y., Hiraguri, T., Matsuda, T. et al. (2023), “Analysis of Wind Effect on Drone Relay Communications”, Drones, vol. 7, pp. 182–197, DOI: 10.3390/drones7030182.
  3. Sait, A., Al-Hadhrami T., Saeed F. et al. (2024), “Laser communications system with drones as relay medium for healthcare applications”, PeerJ Computer Science, vol. 10, pp. 1-28, DOI: 10.10.7717/peerj-cs.1759.
  4. Suetsugu, A., Madokoro, H., Nagayoshi, T. et al. (2024), “Development and Field Testing of a Wireless Data Relay System for Amphibious Drones”, Drones, vol. 8, pp. 1-30, DOI: 10.3390/drones8020038.
  5. Fu, S., Zhao, L., Su, Z. and Jian, X. (2018), “UAV Based Relay for Wireless Sensor Networks in 5G Systems”, Sensors, vol. 18, pp. 2413, DOI: 10.3390/s18082413.
  6. Yanmaz, E. (2022), “Positioning aerial relays to maintain connectivity during drone team missions”, Ad Hoc Networks, 128, pp. 102800, DOI: 10.1016/j.adhoc.2022.102800.
  7. Yanmaz, E. (2021), “Dynamic Relay Selection and Positioning for Cooperative UAV Networks”, IEEE Networking Letters, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 114-118, DOI: 10.1109/LNET.2021.3080403.
  8. Garcia-Molina, H. (1982), “Elections in a Distributed Computing System”, IEEE Transactions on Computers, vol. C-31, no. 1, pp. 48-59, DOI: 10.1109/TC.1982.1675885.
  9. Brown, J., Latombe, J.C. and Montgomery, K. (2004), “Real-time knot-tying simulation”, The Visual Computer: International Journal of Computer Graphics, 20, pp. 165-179, DOI: 10.1007/s00371-003-0226-y.
  10. Canutescu, A.A. and Dunbrack, R.L. (2003), “Cyclic coordinate descent: a robotics algorithm for protein loop closure”, Protein Science, 12, no. 5, pp. 963-972, DOI: 10.1110/ps.0242703.
  11. Balestrino, A., De Maria, G. and Sciavicco, L. (1984), “Robust control of robotic manipulators”, The 9th IFAC World Congr., vol. 5, pp. 2435-2440, DOI: 10.1016/S1474-6670(17)61347-8.
  12. Wolovich, W.A. and Elliott, H. (1984), “A computational technique for inverse kinematics”, The 23rd IEEE Conf. on Decision and Control, 23, pp. 1359-1363, DOI: 10.1109/CDC.1984.272258.
  13. Aristidou, A. and Lasenby, J. (2011), “FABRIK: A fast, iterative solver for the Inverse Kinematics problem”, Graphical Models, vol. 73, no. 5, pp. 243-260, DOI: 10.1016/j.gmod.2011.05.003.
  14. Rodina, A.A. (2021), “Application of fog computing and distributed ledger in creation of ecological monitoring systems based on IoT”, Izvestiya Tula State University. Technical sciences, vol. 2, pp. 56-61. (in Russian).
  15. Orda-Zhigulina, M.V., Melnik, E.V., Ivanov, D.Ya. et al. (2018), “Combined approach to building monitoring facilities of dangerous phenomenon”, Izvestiya Tula State University. Technical sciences, vol.9, pp. 107-116. (in Russian).
  16. Shabanov, V.B. and Kapustyan, S.G. (2019), “Controlling groups of chaotic microrobots using a distributed ledger”, The XII multiconference on control problems (MKPU-2019), Divnomorskoye, Gelendzhik, September 23-28, vol. 2, pp. 112-115. (in Russian).
  17. Saab, W. (2019), “Reliable and Robust Cyber-Physical Systems for Real-Time Control of Electric Grids”. Ph.D. Thesis, Computer Science, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland, DOI: 10.5075/epfl-thesis-9161.
  18. Gutin, G., Punnen, A.P., Barvinok, A. et al. (2001), The Traveling Salesman Problem and Its Variations, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, UK, DOI: 10.1007/b101971.