Networks for Maintaining System-Level Availability for an Exploring Robot

In this paper, we provide an analysis of fixed-position communication nodes in a network for maintaining availability during robot exploration of unknown environments. Based on realistic wireless propagation models in different environments, the communication path loss as the robot moves is characterized. The nodes are then described, and we discuss a simple scalable policy for their deployment. The resulting network of multiple nodes reduces path loss to an acceptable threshold and has a tree structure. Considering the effect of shadowing, another policy is developed for node deployment that influences the system-level availability metric. We also demonstrate how this metric is influenced by exploration strategies and communication routing policies.