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Optical Wireless Communications for Heterogeneous DARS

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Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics ((SPAR,volume 6))

Abstract

Distributed autonomous robotic systems (DARS) can provide essential support to human task forces in a variety of missions. Maintaining reliable communications on these mobile networks is critically important for cooperative autonomy. Radio-frequency is the common wireless communication technology employed for task coordination. However, it has some limitations that can be mitigated by complementing radio-frequency systems with optical wireless communications. In this chapter, we present our efforts for the development and implementation of an optical wireless communication link in DARS, more specifically between aerial (e.g., quadrotors) and ground robots. We describe a line-of-sight directed optical link between these two platforms. In addition, we detail our strategy to maintain an adequate transmitter-receiver relative position to enhance the optical signal strength. Furthermore, we provide some details about our optical transceiver prototype that can be mounted on small aerial and ground autonomous robotic systems.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the Army Research Lab Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology Collaborative Alliance ARL MAST-CTA #W911NF-08-2-0004. We would like to thank the Ecuadorian scholarship program administrated by the Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (SENESCYT) for providing part of the financial support for Patricio J. Cruz.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Patricio J. Cruz, Christoph Hintz, Jonathan West & Rafael Fierro

Authors
  1. Patricio J. Cruz
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  2. Christoph Hintz
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  3. Jonathan West
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  4. Rafael Fierro
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rafael Fierro .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Roderich Groß

  2. Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Andreas Kolling

  3. School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy (SEMTE), Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Spring Berman

  4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Emilio Frazzoli

  5. ENAC, IIE, DIAL, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland

    Alcherio Martinoli

  6. Department of Mechanical Engineering and Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Fumitoshi Matsuno

  7. Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Melvin Gauci

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Cruz, P.J., Hintz, C., West, J., Fierro, R. (2018). Optical Wireless Communications for Heterogeneous DARS. In: Groß, R., et al. Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems. Springer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73008-0_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73008-0_16

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-73006-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-73008-0

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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