Robotic data mules for collecting data over sparse sensor fields

We present a robotic system for collecting data from wireless devices dispersed across a large environment. In such applications, deploying a network of stationary wireless sensors may be infeasible because many relay nodes must be deployed to ensure connectivity. Instead, our system utilizes robots which act as data mules and gather the data from wireless sensor network nodes. We address the problem of planning paths of multiple robots so as to collect the data from all sensors in the least amount of time. In this new routing problem, which we call the Data Gathering Problem (DGP), the total download time depends on not only the robots’ travel time but also the time to download data from a sensor, and the number of sensors assigned to the robot. We start with a special case of DGP where the robots’ motion is restricted to a curve which contains the base station at one end. For this version, we present an optimal algorithm. ∗A preliminary version of this paper appeared in IROS’09 (Bhadauria and Isler, 2009). Next, we study the 2D version, and present a constant factor approximation algorithm for DGP on the plane. Finally, we present field experiments in which an autonomous robotic data mule collects data from the nodes of a wireless sensor network deployed over a large field.