IoT Security and Computation Management on a Multi-Robot System for Rescue Operations Based on a Cloud Framework

Sensors (Basel). 2022 Jul 26;22(15):5569. doi: 10.3390/s22155569.

Abstract

There is a growing body of literature that recognizes the importance of Multi-Robot coordination and Modular Robotics. This work evaluates the secure coordination of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) via a drone simulation in Unity and an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) as a rover. Each robot is equipped with sensors to gather information to send to a cloud server where all computations are performed. Each vehicle is registered by blockchain ledger-based network security. In addition to these, relevant information and alerts are displayed on a website for the users. The usage of UAV-UGV cooperation allows for autonomous surveillance due to the high vantage field of view. Furthermore, the usage of cloud computation lowers the cost of microcontrollers by reducing their complexity. Lastly, blockchain technology mitigates the security issues related to adversarial or malicious robotic nodes connecting to the cluster and not agreeing to privacy rules and norms.

Keywords: IoT security; Robot Operating System (ROS); Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV); Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV); blockchain; cloud robotics; image detection; multi-robot coordination; robotics.

MeSH terms

  • Cloud Computing* / standards
  • Cloud Computing* / trends
  • Computer Simulation
  • Privacy
  • Robotic Surgical Procedures* / standards
  • Robotic Surgical Procedures* / trends
  • Robotics* / instrumentation
  • Robotics* / methods
  • Unmanned Aerial Devices / standards

Grants and funding

This research was funded by departmental grants from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of Texas A&M University.