Collaborative teams of robots require a communication system, which is self-organizing, robust, flexible, and transparent to command and control applications. Due to radio frequency fading, scattering, obstructions, and jamming, teams of robots will rarely have fully connected communications. Existing packet radio network protocols can provide a starting point for a multi-hop network. However, significant gains in functionality can be achieved by integrating the network with the unique capabilities of robots. This talk describes an on-going program titled "Energy-conserving protocols for small-scale robots". The focus of the program is to dramatically reduce the amount of power used by small-scale robots as well as integrate networks into the upcoming robot programs. We describe our design and experiences through both simulation modeling and deployment of a twelve-robot testbed.

Jason Redi received a B.S. in computer engineering from Lehigh University and an M.S. and Ph.D. in computer engineering from Boston University. He is presently the Director of Research and Development of the Mobile Networking Systems department of BBN Technologies. Dr. Redi has been the lead architect in numerous projects to deploy large mobile ad hoc wireless networks including the DARPA Small Unit Operations (SUO) program (Phase II), and the UK Ministry of Defense HCDR 2000-node mobile network. He is currently the Principal Investigator a program on energy-conserving networks for small robots, as well as a new program on networking protocols for directional antennas. Dr. Redi is author of twenty-five papers and patents in the area of mobile computing and communications. He is the founding associate editor of ACM Mobile Computing and Communications Review (MC2R), and on the editorial board of Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing. He is on numerous technical program committees including MobiCom, MobiHOC, WCNC, numerous conference organizing committees, and a member of the IEEE, ACM, Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, and the Order of the Engineer.

Host: Vassilis Tsaoussidis