Paper Info
Title
Autonomous deployment and repair of a sensor network using an unmanned aerial vehicle
Abstract
We describe a sensor network deployment method using autonomous flying robots. Such networks are suitable for tasks such as large-scale environmental monitoring or for command and control in emergency situations. We describe in detail the algorithms used for deployment and for measuring network connectivity and provide experimental data we collected from field trials. A particular focus is on determining gaps in connectivity of the deployed network and generating a plan for a second, repair, pass to complete the connectivity. This project is the result of a collaboration between three robotics labs (CSIRO, USC, and Dartmouth.) I. INTRODUCTION We investigate the role of mobility in sensor networks. Mobility can be used to deploy sensor networks, to maintain and repair connectivity, and to enable applications such as monitoring and surveillance. We examine sensor networks that consist of static and dynamic nodes. The static sensor nodes are "Motes" and the mobile nodes are autonomous helicopters. Integrating static nodes with mobile robots en- hances the capabilities of both types of devices and enables new applications. Using networking, the sensors can provide the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) with information which is out of the range of the robot. Using mobility, the robot can deploy the network, localize the nodes in the network, maintain connectivity by introducing new nodes as needed, and and act as "data mules" to relay information between disconnected wireless clouds. We combine ad-hoc networking, sensing, and control to deploy and use a sensor network. We use an autonomous heli- copter to deploy a sensor network with a controlled topology, for example a star, grid, or random. The helicopter deploys the sensors one at a time at designated locations. Once on the ground, the sensors establish an ad-hoc network and compute their connectivity map in a localized and distributed way. The helicopter is equipped with a sensor node so that it is a mobile component of the sensor network and it can com- municate to the ground. This system can handle on-demand node deployment. The connectivity map is used to determine ground locations that require additional nodes (for example to repair connectivity or to increase bandwidth). The helicopter responds by flying to that location and deploying a new
Year
DOI
Venue
2004
10.1109/ROBOT.2004.1308811
Robotics and Automation, 2004. Proceedings. ICRA '04. 2004 IEEE International Conference
Keywords
Field
DocType
ad hoc networks,aerospace robotics,command and control systems,helicopters,mobile robots,remotely operated vehicles,sensors,csiro lab,dartmouth lab,usc lab,autonomous deployment,autonomous flying robots,command and control,emergency situations,helicopter,large scale environmental monitoring,network connectivity,robotics labs,sensor network deployment method,unmanned aerial vehicle
Sensor node,Key distribution in wireless sensor networks,Computer network,Network topology,Artificial intelligence,Mobile wireless sensor network,Engineering,Robot,Wireless sensor network,Mobile robot,Robotics
Conference
Volume
ISSN
ISBN
4
1050-4729
0-7803-8232-3
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
88
5.99
11
Authors
6
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Peter I. Corke12495234.29
Stefan Hrabar21268.97
Ronald A. Peterson3117887.12
Daniela Rus47128657.33
Srikanth Saripalli556460.11
Gaurav S. Sukhatme65469548.13