A distributed Component-Based Software Framework for Robotic Micro-Air Vehicle Systems Agwad Hammad El-Sayed

Supervisor: Mohamed A. El-Helw

Thesis (M.A.)—Nile University, Egypt, 2012 .

"Includes bibliographical references"

Contents:
Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1
Motivation ................................................................................................................. 2
Problem Statement..................................................................................................... 3
Objectives .................................................................................................................. 4
Contributions ............................................................................................................. 5
Thesis Outline ............................................................................................................ 7
Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 7
Component-Based Software and Mobile Robot Frameworks ............................................ 9
Introduction ............................................................................................................... 9
Component-Based Software Development ............................................................. 10
Robot Control Paradigms ........................................................................................ 12
Network Computing Models ................................................................................... 16
Software Frameworks for Mobile Robot ................................................................. 17
Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 25
The DICOUS Framework ................................................................................................. 27
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 27
Design Goals ........................................................................................................... 28
DICOUS Framework ............................................................................................... 31
Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 39
DICOUS Components and DicoScript .............................................................................
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 40
DicoCom for User-defined Components ................................................................. 40
Core Framework Components ................................................................................. 49
The DicoScript Scripting Language ........................................................................ 54
Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 67
DICOUS Framework Deployment and Evaluation .......................................................... 68
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 68
Hardware and Deployment Setup ............................................................................ 69
DicoCom-Based Components for MicroUAV System ........................................... 73
MicroUAV Search and Rescue Application with DICOUS .................................... 78
Performance Evaluation of DICOUS Framework ................................................... 81
Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 85
Conclusions and Future Work .......................................................................................... 88
The DICOUS Framework........................................................................................ 88
Conclusions and Future Work Perspectives ............................................................

Abstract:
Recent developments in embedded processors, controllers, actuators and sensors open up new realm of advanced robotic systems able to execute complex missions with minimal human intervention. Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (MicroUAVs), where miniaturized aircrafts autonomously navigate with no pilot onboard and carry out specific missions, are one category of advanced robotic systems that has been gaining increased attention over the last few years. MicroUAVs, typically equipped with embedded computers, multiple controllers, and several sensors, are able to perform critical tasks with reduced costs and minimal risks to human life in a variety of applications both military and civilian. Example applications include search and rescue, traffic monitoring, target designation, forest fire management, remote sensing, and surveillance/reconnaissance in hostile and non hostile environments, to name a few. Nevertheless, a robotic MicroUAV system is essentially a complex distributed system involving multiple heterogeneous software and hardware modules. Developing practical MicroUAV applications thus necessitate addressing the key challenges of seamlessly integrating these modules as well as maintaining the developed system with reduced cost and time overheads.
In this thesis, we present a novel lightweight distributed component-based software framework that facilitates rapid development, seamless integration, and run-time maintenance of MicroUAV systems. The framework also aims at providing flexible and reusable design for rapid prototyping and deployment of MicroUAV applications. The framework is composed of four main components: the Mission Planner, the Task Executer, the World Model, and the DicoCom component. Whereas the first three components facilitate the creation and execution of MicroUAV missions, the latter is a generic component model that constitutes the basis for creating distributed components with different interaction patterns. Furthermore, the framework provides a scripting language, DicoScript, used for binding distributed components together and facilitates the description of high level missions. The versatility and efficiency of the proposed framework are demonstrated through the development of MicroUAV tasks utilizing the framework components distributed on heterogeneous embedded processors.

Text in English, abstracts in English.