CPS: Small: Fundamental Advances in Control of Wireless Sensor and Robotic Networks

Abstract: The objective of this project is to investigate fundamental issues in network control and distributed coordination of wireless sensor and robotic networks. The study of these cyber-physical systems is important as they find wide applicability in several applications areas including environmental monitoring, search and rescue, and health care. The approach is to exploit intrinsic properties of such systems to ensure stability, high performance, scalability and modularity despite the deleterious network effects. With respect to intellectual merit, the proposed effort has the potential to lead to a transformational change in the understanding of the mechanisms for delay instability and spatio-temporal synchronization in cyber-physical systems. It is expected that this understanding will help in solving the delay-instability, synchronization, and coordination problems in wireless sensor and robotic networks without sacrificing the performance, scalability, or modularity of the system. Specific expected outcomes include a framework for designing control algorithms for robotic systems with input/output communication delays, a communication management module for addressing medium access delays and data losses, synchronization algorithms for real-time coordination between robotic systems, and a scheme for ensuring clock synchronization. With respect to broader impacts, the project has the potential to impact the broad area of wireless sensor and actuator networks that are important in several domains. One graduate student and an undergraduate student directly benefit from the research and it is expected that several undergraduate and graduate students will benefit from the enriched curricula at University of Maryland. High school students from underrepresented groups are included in the research effort through the University of Maryland's ESTEEM program.