Mobile Autonomous Router System for Dynamic (Re)formation of Wireless Relay Networks

Abstract

Abstract-Multihop wireless relays can extend the area of network connectivity instantly and efficiently. However, due to the spatial dependence of wireless link-quality, the deployment of relay nodes requires extensive, expensive measurement, and management efforts. This paper presents a mobile autonomous router system, (MARS) through which a relay router autonomously seeks and adjusts the best "reception" position for itself and cooperatively forms a string-type relay network with other neighboring routers. Specifically, MARS 1) accurately characterizes spatial link-quality through a new measurement technique, 2) effectively probes/ optimizes node positioning via a spatial probing algorithm, and 3) maintains error-tolerant position information via an inexpensive positioning algorithm. MARS has been prototyped with both a commodity mobile robot and a wireless router with IEEE 802.11 cards. Our experimental evaluation of both the MARS prototype and ns-2-based simulation show that MARS achieves an average of 95 percent accuracy in link-quality measurements, and reduces the measurement effort necessary for the optimization of a node's location by two-thirds, compared to exhaustive spatial probing.Index Terms-Wireless relay networks, robot-based wireless router, wireless link-quality measurement, IEEE 802.11

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