A Mobile Wireless Sensor Network Architecture for Collaborative TasksAchievement by means of Autonomous Robot Swarm

摘要

In the last years, the detection of spatial and temporal variability of heterogeneous parameters is real-time performed [1] thanks to the development of innovative and integrated monitoring system such as Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). Such a technological solution provides .an adequate level of pervasiveness mandatory for the observation of complex environmental phenomena in both civilian [2] and military applications as for example dangerous areas surveillance,.target tracking , and intrusion detection [3]. Nevertheless, the efficiency and flexibility of a WSN architecture can be further enhanced if suitably integrated to gain other features (e.g., mobility) extend current functionalities. For example, WSNs can be "extended" thanks to the use of dedicated robotic devices in order to achieve the so-called mobile swarm sensing. State-of-the-art researches have explored different synergies among WSN and robots leading to different kinds of cooperation and applications. Considerable efforts have been devoted to develop collaborative-task solutions through swarm intelligence [4,5] and the arising Mobile Sensor Network architecture merges the advantages of the distributed sensing with the pervasiveness of the mobile robotics. As a matter of fact, wireless robot swarms can explore unreachable areas to rescue human victims or simply improve the sensing capabilities' of the whole system focusing on selected "regions-of-interest" within the environment under test.