Performance of Routing Protocols over TDMA MAC for Robotic Swarms in Space Exploration

Future space exploration missions to celestial bodies will use a multitude of networked robots. This paper addresses the networking aspect and in particular the routing in such an ad hoc network during surface exploration. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) developed a wireless communication, localization, and timing system including a PHY and MAC for decentralized swarm communication. A decentralized routing protocol is required to realize multi-hop communication. Thus, the natural choice is an ad hoc network routing protocol. We introduce a simulation environment to study ad hoc network routing protocols for this application field. The network simulation provides a TDMA based MAC resembling DLR’s system, an IEEE 802.11g MAC, and incorporates elevation data of the Moon’s surface for realistic radio propagation modeling. Furthermore, we present and evaluate performance metrics relevant for planetary surface exploration.