Resource sharing in distributed robotic systems based on a wireless medium access protocol (CSMA/CD-W)

Resource sharing is crucial in any multi-agent systems, a distributed robotic system (DRS) is not an exception. A new, general strategy of sharing multiple, discrete resources with predetermined capacities under the model of distributed robotic systems (DRS) is proposed. It is based upon a media access protocol, CSMA/CD-W (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection for Wireless), which supports wireless inter-robot communication among multiple autonomous mobile robots without using any centralized mechanism. This resource sharing strategy is derived based on the fact that with the single, time-multiplexed communication channel, asynchronous events for requesting and releasing resources are effectively serialized. It is shown that the control protocol is effective, efficient, reliable and robust