Communication-assisted topology control for autonomous unmanned systems

Wireless mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are very well suited to substitute current 802.11 wireless local area networks in practical implementations of autonomous unmanned systems (AUS). MANETs are infrastructureless, self-configurable and self-forming networks with multi-hop capabilities, all very important features for AUS operations. However, uncontrolled node mobility may still cause partitions in the network topology, isolating robots from the network or even losing them, hindering the mission's success. In this paper, we propose a cross layer design-based control layer algorithm that finds and maintains stable links among the mobile nodes and the main controller. Using information from the physical layer, such as the energy of the nodes and the quality of the received signal, simulations show that the algorithm guarantees permanent node connectivity with minimum overhead.