HNG: a Hybrid Network-based Generic architecture for fast prototyping and evaluation of robust autonomous vehicle systems

The robotic researchers all agree that control architectures should be deliberative, reactive, robust, modular, and multi-robot. The HARPIC architecture that was developed with these ideas by GIP to show modular autonomy functionalities, had an” attention” feature that allowed the architecture to automatically switch from one algorithm to another according to the circumstances. Using the return we had about HARPIC, we design a new architecture, the Hybrid Network-based Generic architecture, based on concepts developed by different teams: it uses independent processes as modules, communication uses Inter Process Communication, and the “attention” feature is realized through a protocol inspired from Contract-Net: this protocol builds customer / supplier relationship within the processes and allows comparisons between them. Preliminary tests we have conducted on this architecture project prove the robustness and adaptability of this method. HNG is also a robust framework to benchmark the advanced techniques used in autonomous systems.