Coordination of marine multi robot systems with communication constraints

Abstract

[eng] This article focuses on the coordination and communication aspects of multi-robot systems (MRS) and explores what, how and when robots should coordinate and communicate in marine environment. It includes a comparative analysis of MRS coordination under communication constraints in aerial, terrestrial, and marine environments. In the light of the gaps identified in the current MRS literature, we focus on how to tackle the inherent communication constraints presents in marine environments. Thus, a review of Marine Multi-Robot systems (MMRS) is presented, proposing a taxonomy that classifies them according to how they communicate and coordinate. In this line, the classification of different communication strategies found in the literature has received significant attention. Additionally, a MMRS coordination approach is proposed where a heterogeneous group of marine vehicles must explore an unknown area maximizing communication. The proposed approach uses a real characterization of the acoustic communication signal quality as input to the decision making process. To validate its effectiveness, our approach has been subjected to a series of highly realistic experiments.