A Hazardous Substance Monitoring Sensor Network Using Multiple Robot Vehicle

In this paper, we consider a mobile sensor network for monitoring a polluted area where human beings cannot access. Due to the limited sensing range of individual unmanned vehicles, they need to cooperate to achieve an effective sensing coverage and move to a more polluted region. In order to address the limitations of sensing and communication ranges, we propose a hazardous substance monitoring network based on virtual force algorithms, and develop a test-bed. In the considered monitoring network, each unmanned vehicle achieves an optimal coverage and move to the highest interest area based on neighboring nodes sensing values and locations. By using experiments based on the developed test-bed, we show that the proposed monitoring network can autonomously move toward a more polluted area and obtain a high weighted coverage.