Assisted link prediction (ALP) protocol in robotic communications

Robotic applications are important in both indoor and outdoor environments. Establishing reliable end-to-end communication among robots in such environments are inevitable. Many real-time challenges in robotic communications are mainly due to the dynamic movement of robots, battery constraints, absence of Global Positioning System (GPS), etc. After recognizing these challenges, building a communication framework among the robots demands the prior knowledge of network connectivity. In this paper, we explore the idea of developing real-time link prediction mechanism between robots by Assisted Link Prediction (ALP) protocol. This is a novel method with intelligent decision process, which can be implemented on the real robots. It resolves many real-time challenges like multiple link ambiguity, accuracy of prediction, improving Packet Reception Ratio (PRR) and reducing energy consumption in-terms of lesser retransmissions. Keeping in view the easy portability of this protocol, we develop the entire software package in Robot Operating System (ROS) framework with the help of Gazebo Simulator and port on the real test-bed using Rpi-3 boards.