Applied Ad-hoc Routing and Network Monitoring for Spacecraft Swarms

PROJECT NUMBER: 48

AUTHOR: Joshua Rands, Computer Science | MENTOR: Qi Han, Computer Science

ABSTRACT

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Mobile ad-hoc networks are becoming more common as robotic swarm technology becomes possible. One issue surrounding swarm technology is communicating between robots. Communication costs time and energy, and it can be difficult to create stable links between nodes in a dynamic network. To address this issue, we have developed a dynamic network routing and monitoring approach. We have used network monitoring parameters such as link strength and battery level to modify the AODV routing protocol.
Our goal is to provide a dynamic network architecture for a spacecraft swarm orbiting an asteroid. The swarm consists of several science collecting spacecraft and a single mothership. The mothership has a data link connected to Earth, while the science collecting spacecraft have weaker radios for sole communication with neighboring spacecraft. We need a network infrastructure that enables effective transmission of spacecraft science data to the mothership through direct links or a multi-hop path using other science collecting spacecraft as relays. We are developing a physical testbed using a drone swarm in place of the spacecraft. This work has developed an adhoc-routing framework that works in simulation (using NS3) as well as on Raspberry Pis for the physical testbed.

VISUAL PRESENTATION

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

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https://github.com/joshrands/adhoc-routing-framework

https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3561

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

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Josh Rands is a senior studying Computer Science in the Research Honors track. He has been doing research for the Pervasive Computing Systems Group under Dr. Qi Han for 2 years. His research has been in ad-hoc networks for swarm robotic systems with particular interest in UAV swarms. During his first year in the PeCS Group he developed a novel network monitoring algorithm that is now being coupled with a well known distributed routing protocol (AODV) to enable a distributed spacecraft swarm to communicate dynamically.

Sponsored by Phillips 66