Tethering of mobile router networks

In this paper we develop a framework based on disjunctive programming for motion planning of mobile routers. Although the methodology presented in this paper can be applied to general motion planning problems we focus on coordinating a team of mobile routers to maintain connectivity between a fixed base station and a mobile user within a walled environment. This connectivity management problem is decomposed into three phases: (i) computing a feasible line-of- sight path between the base station and the mobile user; (ii) determining the number of required routers and their goal locations; and (iii) solving the motion planning with obstacle and inter-vehicle collision avoidance problem. The optimization problems are solved using CPLEX. Simulation results show the applicability of the proposed strategy.