Medium Access Control for Large-Scale Multi-Robot Teams: FY17 Line-Supported Autonomous Systems Program
Abstract
Communication networks are needed to support the vision of embedding sensing and computing capabilities into large numbers of small devices. Commercial communication systems can often fulfill this need but are not typically hardened for defense applications. These networks need to operate in contested environments, where they are vulnerable to high-power signal jamming. A long-standing technical challenge to large communication networks is medium access control, which assigns time, frequency, and space resources to users or links. This is particularly challenging in decentralized networks. This report summarizes work on a Line-funded program in developing medium access control algorithms and protocols to support low-rate, timely exchange of short messages among low-power devices in a 100-node-scale decentralized network. First, a literature review and idealized performance analysis of standard and novel approaches to medium access are conducted. Based on the results of this analysis, a novel medium access control algorithm is selected for further study. This algorithm is the Desync algorithm originally proposed in [1]: it initializes as a contention scheme and then adapts toward a conflict-free time-division scheme. An implementation of this algorithm is developed and outlined in this report; it includes minor modifications to the original algorithm and a specification of operation as a medium access control protocol. Experimental studies demonstrate the performance of this novel protocol and provide a comparison with standard approaches.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 22, 2017
- Accession Number
- AD1086038
Entities
People
- Brooke E. Shrader
- Henry P. Romero
- Patricia Deutsch
Organizations
- MIT Lincoln Laboratory