Robot-assisted wireless relay deployment strategy for unknown environments

This paper explores the use of Wi-Fi relay nodes, deployed by a robotic agent, to geometrically expand a network backbone across a distance to connect two devices which are located outside one another's transmission ranges. This exploration different from existing studies, as it considers a more practical scenario; in which the agent is not provided details of the surrounding environment. More specifically, the most common deployment method found in literature, an agent which reflexively deploys a relay upon signal loss, has been redeveloped; and a new deployment method has been proposed, which evenly disperses the relays. These two methods have been evaluated by simulation and experimentation, and the results show the current method for deploying relays to be more time efficient, and less susceptible to large obstacles. In addition, the new method is better suited to establishing a high quality connection in environments with highly distributed small obstacles, however was found to lead to sporadic navigation paths when large obstacles were encountered.