Distributed control for unmanned vehicles

Remotely operated or computer-controlled vehicles have been developed for dealing with hazardous waste or other materials; for military, police, and fire-fighting operations; for undersea operations; and for automated highway driving. With improvements in sensors and computing capability, the trend is to put more and more control on board the vehicle. All robotic vehicles must turn intent into action. This is the function of the on-board controller, which translates higher-level vehicle commands into vehicle motion or activation of the vehicle's equipment. As research into and use of robotic vehicles increases, so does the need for the efficient development and application of controller technology. Toward that end, RedZone Robotics has developed a prototype distributed control system. The paper considers how the DCS provides cost-effective, flexible control and monitoring of a variety of robotic vehicle functions.