Coordination and control of cooperating ... - Grex Project

Research Projects
Embedded Systems
GREX
Coordination and control of cooperating heterogeneous
unmanned systems in uncertain environments
KEYWORDS: Embedded Systems, Communication Technology, Ad Hoc Networking, Unmanned
Underwater Vehicles, Cooperation, Navigation, Swarm, Flock, Maritime Research
Introduction
Today, due to the limitations of state-of-the-art
embedded systems, underwater research
vehicles are limited in both their autonomy and
capabilities. It would be a leap ahead, if a
researcher could use a multiple vehicle
approach, whereby each vehicle plays the role
of a sophisticated node (with sensor,
processing, and communication capabilities)
in a possibly large network – this means
combining the properties of different systems
in a team.
“Grex” - the latin word for a herd or flock –
intimates the focus of the project: to create a
conceptual framework and middleware to
coordinate a flock of heterogeneous robotic
vehicles in order to achieve a well defined
practical goal in an optimised manner.
Objectives
The main goal of the project is to achieve a
first level of distributed “intelligence” through
dependable embedded systems that are
interconnected and cooperate towards the
coordinated execution of tasks. Thus the
project will witness the development of
theoretical methods and practical tools for
multiple vehicle cooperation, bridging the gap
between concept and practice. The
technology developed must be on one hand
sufficiently generic in order to interface preexisting
heterogeneous systems. On the other
hand it must be sufficiently robust to cover
problems caused by faulty communications.
Practically, developments will cover methods
for effective programming of multiple systems,
coordinated mission control and navigation,
formal methods for validation and testing of the
programming language, and the use of
perception and communication techniques to
enable ad hoc formation of information- and
sensor-networks.
A series of field trials will be carried out to
assess the efficacy of the methods developed.
They conclude and demonstrate the success
of the GREX project.
Expected Results
The main innovation key points will be
composed of:
• a User-Interface with underlying middleware
to plan and distribute a coordinated mission
for heterogeneous systems,
• an open communication middleware for
inter-module and interprocess
communication,
• a communication middleware, which enables
heterogeneous vehicles to communicate
with each other by LAN, WLAN, radio, and
underwater acoustic communication,
• a widely generic control system for
coordinated control of multiple objects in
uncertain environments.
Furthermore, various scientific and marketing
related publications will emerge from the project.
October 2006

Partners and their roles
The Consortium is composed of 9 Partners
which share the project work under coordination
of ATLAS ELEKTRONIK GmbH.
GREX will start with a short definition phase.
The Instituto do Mar at the University of the
Azores, which is dedicated to biological research
in the underwater domain, is in the position to
define scenarios and requirements, from which
development and trials will be deducted.
Scientific Methodical Analysis and Research will
mainly be performed by the Institute of Robotics
of the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) and the
Technische Universität Ilmenau, Faculty of
Computer Science and Automation. Both
Institutes combine their theoretical backgrounds
to achieve the ambitious goals.
Sciant, experts in embedded systems and
communications, will develop the middleware for
inter-process and inter-vehicle communication
as well as for dynamic networking.
Ifremer with its operational experience in
underwater communication will lead the
specifications of communication in the GREX
system and provide their Aster X -Vehicle for
evaluative tests.
To test the functionality of the joint modules, an
overall simulation will be developed by Seebyte
Ltd. They will also be responsible to create the
GUI for planning and analysis of the coordinated
mission.
The scientific/technical part of the project,
described above, will be framed by an intensive
marketing. INNOVA uses their experience in
Market Studies and Exploitation Plans for
GREX. MC Marketing Consulting will
coordinate the dissemination and promotion
during the project and prepares the web
presentation.
GREX
CONTRACT NUMBER
IST - 035223
FULL NAME
Coordination and control of cooperating
heterogeneous unmanned systems in
uncertain environments
TYPE OF PROJECT
Specific Targeted Research Project
PROJECT PARTICIPANTS
ATLAS ELEKTRONIK GmbH (Germany)
Ifremer (France)
Innova S.P.A. (Italy)
MC Marketing Consulting (Germany)
SeaByte Ltd. (Great Britain)
TU Ilmenau (Germany)
Instituto Superior Tecnico (Portugal)
IMAR - Instituto do Mar (Portugal)
SCIANT Ltd. (Bulgaria)
CONTACT PERSON
Joerg Kalwa
ATLAS ELEKTRONIK GmbH
Sebaldsbruecker Heerstr. 235
D-28309 Bremen
Germany
Phone: +49 421 457 2753
Fax: +49 421 457 2020
e-mail: Joerg.Kalwa@atlas.de
PROJECT WEBSITE
www.grex-project.eu
BUDGET
Total cost: 4.8 M€
Funding: 2.9 M€
TIMETABLE
Starting date: 01. June 2006
Duration: 37 month
This project is part of the portfolio of the
Embedded Systems Unit – G3
Directorate General Information Society
For more information please check:
http://cordis.europa.eu/ist/embedded/index.ht
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