Development of a space-division infrared receiver for fully distributed inter-robot communication networks

This paper describes the development of an infrared wireless communication system for multiple mobile robots. The communication system uses a set of infrared transceivers, which is arranged on the circumference of the robot body. Infrared wireless communication suffers from hardly any interference, when the infrared receiver faces a different direction from transmission signals. Therefore, the communication system can communicate at the same time in parallel with different partners in different directions. Each robot relays communication, and a space-division communication network can be created. Hardware realization and performance measurements are illustrated to reveal the effectiveness of the developed system.