Cooperative Mobility Control with Longcut Route Selection to Form Ad Hoc Networks for Multiple Autonomous Mobile Robots

Abstract

We propose a method to improve Quality of Service (QoS) between the IEEE802.11 AP (access point) and the AMR by using a neighboring AMR as a relay communication node. We assume a self-driving small vehicle as an AMR (Autonomous Mobile Robot) such as auto-driving wheelchair, which drives to an on-demand destination. The proposed method consists of a midpoint-following route control method and a relay control method. In the midpoint-following route control method, neighboring AMRs (Contribution-AMRs, C-AMRs) move in the direction of the midpoint between its AP and a moving AMR (Benefit-AMR, B-AMR). Then, the C-AMR could relay the B-AMR to the AP for better QoS. The relay control method decides whether to use the relay or not depending on estimations of throughput based on positions of B-AMRs, C-AMRs and APs. The proposed route control obtains semi-optimal move for a C-AMR and also obtains the highest throughput for a B-AMR. Because an initial position of the C-AMR significantly effects on QoS, QoS characteristics is discussed with the initial position.