Cooperative co-evolution based distributed path planning of multiple mobile robots

This paper proposes novel multiple-mobile-robot collision avoidance path planning based on cooperative co-evolution,which can be executed fully distributed and in parallel. A real valued co-evolutionary algorithm is developed to coordinate the movement of multiple robots in 2D world, avoiding C-space or grid net searching. The collision avoidance is achieved by cooperatively co-evolving segments of paths and the time interval to pass them. Methods for constraint handling, which are developed for evolutionary algorithm, make the path planning easier. The effectiveness of the algorithm is demonstrated on a number of 2Dpath planning problems.

Dynamic Consensus of High-order Multi-agent Systems and Its Application in the Motion Control of Multiple Mobile Robots

In this paper, the leader-following consensus problem for multi-agent linear dynamic systems is considered. All agents and leader have identical multi-input multi-output （MIMO） linear dynamics that can be of any order, and only the output information of each agent is delivered throughout the communication network. When the interaction topology is fixed, the leader-following consensus is attained by Ho~ dynamic output feedback control, and the sufficient condition of robust controllers is equal to the solvability of linear matrix inequality （LMI）. The whole analysis is based on spectral decomposition and an equivalent decoupled structure achieved, and the stability of the system is proved. Finally, we extended the theoretical results to the case that the interaction topology is switching. The simulation results for multiple mobile robots show the effectiveness of the devised methods.

Path Planning of the Multiple Mobile Robot System Applied in Chinese Chess Game

The article presents the path planning algorithm to be applied in the Chinese chess game, and uses multiple mobile robots to present the experimental scenario. Users play the Chinese chess game using the mouse on the supervised computer. The supervised computer programs the motion paths using A＊ searching algorithm, and controls mobile robots moving on the grid based chessboard platform via wireless radio frequency （RF） interface. The A＊ searching algorithm solves shortest path problems of mobile robots from the start point to the target point, and avoids the obstacles on the chessboard platform. The supervised computer calculates the total time to play the game, and computes the residual time to play chess in the step for each player. The simulation results can fired out the shortest motion paths of the mobile robots （chesses） moving to target points from start points in the monitor, and decides the motion path to be existence or not. The eaten chess can moves to the assigned position, and uses the A＊ searching algorithm to program the motion path, too. Finally, the authors implement the simulation results on the chessboard platform using mobile robots. Users can play the Chinese chess game on the supervised computer according to the Chinese chess game rule, and play each step of the game in the assigned time. The supervised computer can suggests which player don＇t obey the rules of the game, and decides which player to be a winner. The scenario of the Chinese chess game feedback to the user interface using the image system.

MOTION PLANNING OF MULTIPLE MOBILE ROBOTS COOPERATIVELY TRANSPORTING A COMMON OBJECT

Many applications above the capability of a single robot need the cooperation of multiple mobile robots, but effective cooperation is hard to achieve. In this paper, a master slave method is proposed to control the motions of multiple mobile robots that cooperatively transport a common object from a start point to a goal point. A noholonomic kinematic model to constrain the motions of multiple mobile robots is built in order to achieve cooperative motions of them, and a “Dynamic Coordinator” strategy is used to deal with the collision avoidance of the master robot and slave robot individually. Simulation results show the robustness and effectiveness of the method.

Development of multiple mobile networks call detailed records and its forensic analysis

Call Detailed Records(CDR)are generated and stored in Mobile Networks(MNs)and contain subscriber’s information about active or passive usage of the network for various communication activities.The spatio-temporal nature of CDR makes them a valuable dataset used for forensic activities.Advances in technology have led to the seamless communication across Multiple Mobile Network(MMN),which poses a threat to the availability and integrity of CDR data.Present CDR implementation is capable of logging peer-to-peer communications over single connection only,thus necessitating improvements on how the CDR data is stored for forensic analysis.In this paper,the problem is solved by identifying and conceptually modelling six new artifacts generated by such communication activities.The newly identified artifacts are introduced into the existing CDR for an incident capturing of the required data for forensic analysis during investigations involved in the MMN communication.Results show an improved absolute speed of 0.0058 s for the MMN-CDR to associate a suspect with an incident,which is 0.0038 s faster than the speed of 0.0097s for the existing CDR to associate a suspect with an accomplice.Thus,a novel method for forensically tracking calls over the MMN has been developed.The MMN-CDR,when forensically analyzed,reveals an increase in time efficiency over the existing CDR due to its high absolute speed.Also,higher accuracy and completeness percentage are both obtained.

A Self-Position Estimation Algorithm for Multiple Mobile Robots Using Two Omnidirectional Cameras and an Accelerometer

This paper proposes a self-position estimate algorithm for the multiple mobile robots; each robot uses two omnidirectional cameras and an accelerometer. In recent years, the Great East Japan Earthquake and large-scale disasters have occurred frequently in Japan. From this, development of the searching robot which supports the rescue team to perform a relief activity at a large-scale disaster is indispensable. Then, this research has developed the searching robot group system with two or more mobile robots. In this research, the searching robot equips with two omnidirectional cameras and an accelerometer. In order to perform distance measurement using two omnidirectional cameras, each parameter of an omnidirectional camera and the position and posture between two omnidirectional cameras have to be calibrated in advance. If there are few mobile robots, the calibration time of each omnidirectional camera does not pose a problem. However, if the calibration is separately performed when using two or more robots in a disaster site, etc., it will take huge calibration time. Then, this paper proposed the algorithm which estimates a mobile robot＇s position and the parameter of the position and posture between two omnidirectional cameras simultaneously. The algorithm proposed in this paper extended Nonlinear Transformation （NLT） Method. This paper conducted the simulation experiment to check the validity of the proposed algorithm. In some simulation experiments, one mobile robot moves and observes the circumference of another mobile robot which has stopped at a certain place. This paper verified whether the mobile robot can estimate position using the measurement value when the number of observation times becomes 10 times in n/18 of observation intervals. The result of the simulation shows the effectiveness of the algorithm.

A Stochastic Approach for Cooperative Position Estimation of Multiple Mobile Robots

This paper proposes the cooperative position estimation of a group of mobile robots, which pertbrms disaster relief tasks in a wide area. When searching the wide area, it becomes important to know a robot＇s position correctly. However, for each mobile robot, it is impossible to know its own position correctly. Therefore, each mobile robot estimates its position from the data of sensor equipped on it. Generally, the sensor data is incorrect since there is sensor noise, etc. This research considers two types of the sensor data errors from omnidirectional camera. One is the error of white noise of the image captured by omnidirectional camera and so on. Another is the error of position and posture between two omnidirectional cameras. To solve the error of latter case, we proposed a self-position estimation algorithm for multiple mobile robots using two omnidirectional cameras and an accelerometer. On the other hand, to solve the error of the former case, this paper proposed an algorithm of cooperative position estimation for multiple mobile robots. In this algorithm, each mobile robot uses two omnidirectional cameras to observe the surrounding mobile robot and get the relative position between mobile robots. Each mobile robot estimates its position with only measurement data of each other mobile robots. The algorithm is based on a Bayesian filtering. Simulations of the proposed cooperative position estimation algorithm for multiple mobile robots are performed. The results show that position estimation is possible by only using measurement value from each other robot.

Simultaneous Position Estimation and Omnidirectional Camera Parameter Calibration for Multiple Mobile Robots

This paper proposed an algorithm on simultaneous position estimation and calibration of omnidirectional camera parameters for a group of multiple mobile robots. It is aimed at developing of exploration and information gathering robotic system in unknown environment. Here, each mobile robot is not possible to know its own position. It can only estimate its own position by using the measurement value including white noise acquired by two omnidirectional cameras mounted on it. Each mobile robot is able to obtain the distance to those robots observed from the images of two omnidirectional cameras while making calibration during moving but not in advance. Simulation of three robots moving straightly shows the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

ZTE and Innofidei Achieve Industry's First Field IOT on Multiple TD-LTE USB Dongles in a Mobile Network Cell

ZTE Corporation, a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and networking solutions, announced on May 11,2010 that ZTE Corporation and Innofidei have jointly delivered a significant breakthrough for the Time Division Long Term Evolution （TD-LTE） industry with the industry＇s first successful Inter-Operability Test（IOT） of multiple TD-LTE USB dongles in a single mobile network cell. The successful test was first performed in Hong Kong,

Formation Feedback Applied to Behavior-Based Approach to Formation Keeping

Approaches to the study of formation keeping for multiple mobile robots are analyzed and a behavior-based robot model is built in this paper. And, a kind of coordination architecture is presented, which is similar to the infantry squad organization and is used to realize multiple mobile robots to keep formations. Simulations verify the validity of the approach to keep formation, which combines the behavior-based method and formation feedback. The effects of formation feedback on the performance of the system are analyzed.

Cooperative transport strategy for formation control of multiple mobile robots

This paper addresses a box transport problem that requires the cooperation of multiple mobile robots. A geometric-based distributed formation control strategy is proposed for robots to push the box to the target, which might be static or dynamic. Velocity and hardware constraints are considered in the advanced planning of the trajectory. Information sharing is included because the robots used as box pushers cannot acquire the required environmental information from their local sensors. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed distributed cooperation strategy.

Application of a new SPA-SVM coupling method for QSPR study of electrophoretic mobilities of some organic and inorganic compounds

In this work, two chemometrics methods are applied for the modeling and prediction of electrophoretic mobilities of some organic and inorganic compounds. The successive projection algorithm, feature selection （SPA） strategy, is used as the descriptor selection and model development method. Then, the support vector machine （SVM） and multiple linear regression （MLR） model are utilized to construct the non-linear and linear quantitative structure-property relationship models. The results obtained using the SVM model are compared with those obtained using MLR reveal that the SVM model is of much better predictive value than the MLR one. The root-mean-square errors for the training set and the test set for the SVM model were 0.1911 and 0.2569, respectively, while by the MLR model, they were 0.4908 and 0.6494, respectively. The results show that the SVM model drastically enhances the ability of prediction in QSPR studies and is superior to the MLR model.

Non-interference topology scheme in wireless sensor networks

A novel topology scheme, cell with multiple mobile sinks method （CMMSM）, is proposed in this article for the collection of information and for the environment monitoring in wireless sensor networks. The system consists of many static sensors, scattered in a large scale sensing field and multiple mobile sinks, cruising among the clusters. Conservation of energy and simplification of protocol are important design considerations in this scheme. The noninterference topology scheme largely simplifies the full-distributed communication protocol with the ability of collision avoidance and random routing. The total number of cluster heads in such a topology was analyzed, and then an approximate evaluation of the total energy consumption in one round was carded out. Simulation results show that CMMSM can save considerable energy and obtain higher throughput than low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy （LEACH） and geographical adaptive fidelity （GAF）.