NPS Small Robotic Technology Initiative, Man-Portable Robots for Low Intensity Conflict

摘要

The Naval Postgraduate School's Small Robotic Technology (SMART) initiative is an ongoing research effort within the Combat Systems Science and Technology Curriculum that engages in forward-looking applications of small robotic technology for military employment. The immediate goal of which is to develop a multipurpose robotic platform that is capable of hosting varied sensor packages for military research. This thesis successfully accomplished initial background research and integration of a low cost, lightweight, all-terrain, robotic vehicle to fulfill this requirement. The areas of robotic investigation included: research and procurement of a Foster Miller Lemming tracked vehicle; the selection of a robust, network enabled, real-time microcontroller called the ipEngine; selection of Differential GPS as a highly accurate autonomous vehicle positioning technique; and the development of the ipEngine software environment for integration and testing of the microcontroller's wireless interfacing. Wireless communication tests using TCP/IP sockets, serial communication, telnet and a common Internet Web Browser validated the ability to remotely operate the vehicle under both direct and autonomous control. Ultimately, this thesis laid the foundation for follow-on NPS students to research and integrate varied robotic sensing techniques, including synthetic array seismic sonar's and chemical detection devices, and to participate in cooperative research with other military laboratories.