Co-optimization of communication and motion planning of a robotic operation in fading environments

In this paper, we consider the scenario where a robot needs to maximize the amount of information it sends to a fixed station as it moves along a predefined trajectory. We consider the case where the robot operates under energy and time constraints and has to jointly consider its motion and communication costs. We then show how the robot can co-optimize its velocity, motion energy and transmission rate/power along the trajectory, by using our recently-proposed probabilistic wireless channel assessment framework. Our mathematical analysis and simulation results show how our proposed co-optimization framework results in a considerably more efficient use of the available resources.