Delay tolerant network for autonomous robotic vehicle charging and hazard detection

Autonomous robotic vehicles are getting increasingly popular. Uses for these vehicles include operations in remote areas where access to a structured network such as 3G, 4G, 5G, or Wi-Fi may be unavailable, making reliable communication an issue. Limited battery power of these vehicles is another issue that impairs their ability to perform autonomous duties for extended time periods. We propose a new delay-tolerant-network (DTN) topology that allows the vehicles seamlessly communicate with each other and additional nodes, and a novel autonomous charging system utilizing our network to solve the problem of limited battery power for extended autonomous duties. We designed a cost-effective, heterogeneous, ad-hoc DTN to carry and relay information between robotic vehicles, charging stations and additional nodes, where nodes can collect and store data from each other to relay to additional nodes. Furthermore, we developed an automated charging process, where autonomous robotic vehicles collect, share, and store information about the charging stations they have encountered using our DTN network. When the vehicles need charging, they use the data stored in their memory to autonomously navigate to the charging stations and connect with them using image detection to charge their batteries, eliminating any need for outside intervention. To demonstrate the autonomous charging process, we prototyped two autonomous robotic vehicles controlled by smartphones. These smartphones run a custom Android application we developed to perform wireless communication over DTN using the ZigBee protocol. The vehicles navigate autonomously using GPS and on board ultrasonic distance sensors, and precisely connect to charging stations by using the smartphone camera to detect specific patterns. Additionally, we built a prototype charging station that also acts as a gateway between our DTN and the Internet.