Applications based on groups of self-organized mobile robots and - more generically - agents are becoming pervasive in communication, monitoring, traffic and transportation systems. Their advantage is the possibility of providing services without the existence of a previously defined infrastructure and with a high degree of autonomy. On the other hand, physical agents, in general, are prone to failures, adding uncertainty and unpredictability in the environments in which they operate. Therefore, a robust topology regarding failures is an imperative requirement. In this paper, we show that mechanisms based solely on connectivity maintenance are not enough to obtain a sufficiently resilient network, and a robustness-oriented approach is necessary. Thus, we propose a local combined control law that aims at maintaining the overall network connectivity while improving the network robustness via actions that reduce vulnerability to failures that might lead to network disconnection. The combined control law performance was validated from two perspectives: as a reactive and as a proactive mechanism. As a reactive mechanism, it was able to accommodate ongoing failures and postpone or avoid network fragmentation. As a proactive mechanism, the network topology was able to evolve from a potentially vulnerable topology w.r.t. failures to a more robust one.

Improving the fault tolerance of multi-robot networks through a combined control law strategy / Ghedini, Cinara; Ribeiro, Carlos H. C.; Sabattini, Lorenzo. - STAMPA. - (2016), pp. 209-215. (Intervento presentato al convegno 8th International Workshop on Resilient Networks Design and Modeling, RNDM 2016 tenutosi a Halmstadt, Sweden nel 13-15 September 2016) [10.1109/RNDM.2016.7608289].

Improving the fault tolerance of multi-robot networks through a combined control law strategy

SABATTINI, Lorenzo
2016

Abstract

Applications based on groups of self-organized mobile robots and - more generically - agents are becoming pervasive in communication, monitoring, traffic and transportation systems. Their advantage is the possibility of providing services without the existence of a previously defined infrastructure and with a high degree of autonomy. On the other hand, physical agents, in general, are prone to failures, adding uncertainty and unpredictability in the environments in which they operate. Therefore, a robust topology regarding failures is an imperative requirement. In this paper, we show that mechanisms based solely on connectivity maintenance are not enough to obtain a sufficiently resilient network, and a robustness-oriented approach is necessary. Thus, we propose a local combined control law that aims at maintaining the overall network connectivity while improving the network robustness via actions that reduce vulnerability to failures that might lead to network disconnection. The combined control law performance was validated from two perspectives: as a reactive and as a proactive mechanism. As a reactive mechanism, it was able to accommodate ongoing failures and postpone or avoid network fragmentation. As a proactive mechanism, the network topology was able to evolve from a potentially vulnerable topology w.r.t. failures to a more robust one.
2016
8th International Workshop on Resilient Networks Design and Modeling, RNDM 2016
Halmstadt, Sweden
13-15 September 2016
209
215
Ghedini, Cinara; Ribeiro, Carlos H. C.; Sabattini, Lorenzo
Improving the fault tolerance of multi-robot networks through a combined control law strategy / Ghedini, Cinara; Ribeiro, Carlos H. C.; Sabattini, Lorenzo. - STAMPA. - (2016), pp. 209-215. (Intervento presentato al convegno 8th International Workshop on Resilient Networks Design and Modeling, RNDM 2016 tenutosi a Halmstadt, Sweden nel 13-15 September 2016) [10.1109/RNDM.2016.7608289].
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
16RNDM.pdf

Accesso riservato

Tipologia: Versione pubblicata dall'editore
Dimensione 369.7 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
369.7 kB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri   Richiedi una copia
Pubblicazioni consigliate

Licenza Creative Commons
I metadati presenti in IRIS UNIMORE sono rilasciati con licenza Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal, mentre i file delle pubblicazioni sono rilasciati con licenza Attribuzione 4.0 Internazionale (CC BY 4.0), salvo diversa indicazione.
In caso di violazione di copyright, contattare Supporto Iris

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11380/1113416
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 5
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 3
social impact