Integration of aerial robots and wireless sensor and actuator networks. The AWARE project

This paper and video are devoted to the last experiments and demonstration of the AWARE project (European Commission, FP6) carried out in Utrera, near Seville (Spain) May, 2009. The project has developed and validated in field experiments a platform providing the functionalities required for the cooperation of aerial robots with ground sensor-actuator wireless networks, including static and mobile nodes carried by people and vehicles. The project demonstrated the self-deployment, self-configuration and self-repairing of the network by using autonomous helicopters that transported and deployed sensor nodes and loads. These features are highly relevant in natural and urban environments without pre-existing infrastructure or where the infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed. Two validation scenarios have been considered: Disaster Management/Civil Security and Filming.