Received signal strength based dispersion of swarm of autonomous ground vehicles

Abstract

Definition of swarm refers to a group or a collection of similar objects and the interactions between them. Application of this swarm concept in the field of robotics has led to the origin of an emerging robotics field called as Swarm Robotics. In this work, we develop and analyze a RSSI based dispersion algorithm for dispersing a swarm of robots based on received signal strength using wireless communication between the robots. This algorithm finds its application in swarm behavior of Autonomous Ground Vehicles (AGVs) for its effective dispersion in unknown environments for applications such as unknown area exploration, target detection, search and rescue, mine detection and implantation, etc. In this paper we have discussed a new swarm dispersion algorithm based on received signal strength and have demonstrated the concept with the help of Webots robot simulator.