17-03-2014, 07:14 PM
Abstract— This paper presents another short-range
communication technique suitable for swarm mobile robots
application. Infrared is used for transmitting and receiving
data packets and obstacle detection. The infrared
communication system is used for an autonomous mobile robot
(UPM-AMR) that will be used as a low-cost platform for
robotics research. A pulse-code modulation (PCM) digital
scheme is used for transmitting data. The reflected infrared
signal is also used for distance estimation for obstacle
avoidance. Analysis of robot’s behaviors shows the feasibility
of using infrared signals to obtain a reliable local
communication between swarm mobile robots.
Keywords- Infrared; Communication; PCM; Swarm; Mobile
robots;
I. INTRODUCTION
Robots are being utilized increasingly in working tasks
around humans. Robots are used in many applications such
as office, military tasks, hospital operations, industrial
automation, security systems, dangerous environment, and
agriculture. Swarm mobile robot is a new coordination
approach for multiple robots to cooperatively achieve a
single task. Each of the mobile robots in the swarm should
have autonomous behavior with out any central controller.
Thus, communication between mobile robots is a significant
task which allows multiple robots to accomplish complex
behaviors in swarm robots’ scenarios.
The autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) can not execute
their programmed tasks without reliable data transmission
techniques [1-4]. Mobile robots use various communication
methods such as wireless network [5], Bluetooth [6],
Ultrasonic and Infra-Red [7-8]. Each method has its own
advantages and drawback for different AMR application
scenarios. Wireless network and Bluetooth are suitable
communication approach for outdoor applications that does
not requires the information of distance and location of
surrounding robots. Providing distance and location
information with wireless communication is complicated and
requires additional hardware and software to solve position
estimation problem [9].
Infrared (IR) light is an electromagnetic radiation with
longer wavelength than visible light. The IR wavelength is
between 750nm and 1mm. It is used in many applications
such as military, thermal efficiency, remote temperature
sensing, and short-range wireless communication. The IR
filters are used to block visible light spectrums which are
employed in receiver’s pack. The IR is divided into three
bands [10]:
• IR-A: 700 nm-1400 nm
• IR-B: 1400 nm-3000 nm
• IR-C: 3000 nm-1 mm
The proposed hardware uses IR components with 950nm
wavelength that are in IR-A band. This wavelength is the
popular wavelength in many short-range remote controlling
systems that employ IR wireless data communication.
Several developed standards are used in IR data transmission
[11] and are common approach in multiple-robots
communication environment.
In this paper, we introduce a short-range communication
technique based on PCM for autonomous mobile robots. All
messages are modulated without complex algorithms. Some
standards such as IrDA and AIr are defined for multi-channel
users and they use reliable IR transmission algorithms but
they are not suitable for our application that uses small size
packets in short distance. Robot’s messages are modulated
with simple unique packet format and they are broadcasted
in robotic environment by IR radiation. In addition, the IR
signal reflects are used to detect surrounding obstacles and
used to estimate the obstacle distance. The deployed robot is
designed for indoor application and low-cost components are
a requirement.
Multiple robotic environments are described in section II.
Section III describes the requirements for implementing the
proposed communication. The designed architecture is
described in section IV. The experimental results are
presented in section V.
communication technique suitable for swarm mobile robots
application. Infrared is used for transmitting and receiving
data packets and obstacle detection. The infrared
communication system is used for an autonomous mobile robot
(UPM-AMR) that will be used as a low-cost platform for
robotics research. A pulse-code modulation (PCM) digital
scheme is used for transmitting data. The reflected infrared
signal is also used for distance estimation for obstacle
avoidance. Analysis of robot’s behaviors shows the feasibility
of using infrared signals to obtain a reliable local
communication between swarm mobile robots.
Keywords- Infrared; Communication; PCM; Swarm; Mobile
robots;
I. INTRODUCTION
Robots are being utilized increasingly in working tasks
around humans. Robots are used in many applications such
as office, military tasks, hospital operations, industrial
automation, security systems, dangerous environment, and
agriculture. Swarm mobile robot is a new coordination
approach for multiple robots to cooperatively achieve a
single task. Each of the mobile robots in the swarm should
have autonomous behavior with out any central controller.
Thus, communication between mobile robots is a significant
task which allows multiple robots to accomplish complex
behaviors in swarm robots’ scenarios.
The autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) can not execute
their programmed tasks without reliable data transmission
techniques [1-4]. Mobile robots use various communication
methods such as wireless network [5], Bluetooth [6],
Ultrasonic and Infra-Red [7-8]. Each method has its own
advantages and drawback for different AMR application
scenarios. Wireless network and Bluetooth are suitable
communication approach for outdoor applications that does
not requires the information of distance and location of
surrounding robots. Providing distance and location
information with wireless communication is complicated and
requires additional hardware and software to solve position
estimation problem [9].
Infrared (IR) light is an electromagnetic radiation with
longer wavelength than visible light. The IR wavelength is
between 750nm and 1mm. It is used in many applications
such as military, thermal efficiency, remote temperature
sensing, and short-range wireless communication. The IR
filters are used to block visible light spectrums which are
employed in receiver’s pack. The IR is divided into three
bands [10]:
• IR-A: 700 nm-1400 nm
• IR-B: 1400 nm-3000 nm
• IR-C: 3000 nm-1 mm
The proposed hardware uses IR components with 950nm
wavelength that are in IR-A band. This wavelength is the
popular wavelength in many short-range remote controlling
systems that employ IR wireless data communication.
Several developed standards are used in IR data transmission
[11] and are common approach in multiple-robots
communication environment.
In this paper, we introduce a short-range communication
technique based on PCM for autonomous mobile robots. All
messages are modulated without complex algorithms. Some
standards such as IrDA and AIr are defined for multi-channel
users and they use reliable IR transmission algorithms but
they are not suitable for our application that uses small size
packets in short distance. Robot’s messages are modulated
with simple unique packet format and they are broadcasted
in robotic environment by IR radiation. In addition, the IR
signal reflects are used to detect surrounding obstacles and
used to estimate the obstacle distance. The deployed robot is
designed for indoor application and low-cost components are
a requirement.
Multiple robotic environments are described in section II.
Section III describes the requirements for implementing the
proposed communication. The designed architecture is
described in section IV. The experimental results are
presented in section V.