A 4G-Connected Micro-Rover With Infinite Range

The development of micro-rover technology could enable multiple applications. However, the range of control so far has been limited to the radio system used. If cellular (4G/5G) connectivity could be used, its control range would be practically infinite. This work describes the design of such a system. The micro-rover is controlled by an onboard GPS linked STM32 32-bit ARM-based microcontroller, which communicates with an onboard Linux computer. The control is over a 4G/LTE network, which can provide full manual (throttle and steering) or full autonomous (GPS waypoint controlled) navigation. A live HD video stream is used for driver awareness and navigation. With this approach, in this work, we demonstrate a 4G-connected micro-rover with semi-autonomous driving capability and a prototype command and control architecture with encryption that can punch through firewalls at the driver and rover end. At 0.3 m in length and 900-g weight, this is the smallest 4G-connected autonomous micro-rover ever demonstrated. Because of the 4G connectivity, its control range is practically infinite.