Power-aware networks: Balancing motion with communication energy in mobile robotic systems

This paper concerns the problem of path planning for a team of autonomous mobile robots, tasked with the formation of a relay network for providing communications between a stationary object and a remote station (controller). The trajectories of the robots should be determined so as to optimize their energy required for communication and motion. The robots are assumed to transmit while in motion. The problem is formulated in the setting of optimal control, and solved by the application of an efficient algorithm recently developed by the authors. The algorithm is based on explicit minimization of the Hamiltonian at each step thereby providing an effective, easily-computable descent direction. Following the problem formulation the paper presents the algorithm and its convergence properties, demonstrates it on application examples, and discusses various directions for future research.