Research Topic: Context Aware (Ambient Intelligent) Multi-agent Sensor and Actuator Networks for Environmental Surveillance, Monitoring and Ecological Protection

R/D objectives concern with building of an intelligent, distributed, mobile, remote sensing system designed for environemental survaillence, monitoring and ecological system protection based on implementation of intelligent, GPS guided (autonomous) multi-agent sensory-robotic system.

Serbia is a Danube country with approximately 591 [km] of river courese (Fig. 1) through its teritory. Banks of the river Danube represen urban and rural regions, with lot of swampy regions, dune, forests, etc. With climate changes, especially in spring, floods and weather storms are rather frequent. From other side industrial polution is unfortunatelly influent factor that polute eco-system of river Danube. As Danube regional country, Serbia cooperates with other European countries to protect Danube’s banks and its ecological system (water, flora and fauna) from polution, risks of climatic changes, flood, fires, and other natural risks. As response to the increasing risks of natural catatrpohas and polution of the ecologicals system and living environemnet, contemporary ICT technologies offer new possibilities to fight against such circumsatnces. The reserches in this project contribute to the EU trend of sustainable living environement development, environement monitoring and risk management through implementation of new ICT technologies.

Course of the Danube river of 591 [km] length through Serbia

Fig. 1. Course of the Danube river of 591 [km] length through Serbia.

Conceptually, proposed system consisits of environemental surveillance center and mobile multi-agent sensory-robotic system distributed along the river banks and waterside in the particular regions (secotors) as presented in Fig. 2. Mobile robots, organized as a specialized multi-agent robotic system, are equipped with rich sensory system (vision, range-finders, scent sensors, thermo-probes, infra-red sensors, etc.) and robotic arms capable to perform different outdoor tasks of monitoring, surveillance and simple manipulation (e.g. grasping of the samples of soil, water or plants). Robot agents send reports using Internet modem or GPRS service to the remote environemental surveillance center. Robot agents are GPS-guided with elements of artificial intelligence necessary for limited autonomous motion (obstacle and collision avoidance). Robot agents posses algorithms for environement understanding, path planning, certain level of decision making, etc.).

Principle scheme of the remote environmental survaillence by multi-robots, mobile sensing system

Fig. 2. Principle scheme of the remote environmental survaillence by multi-robots, mobile sensing system.

Distributed mobile remote-sensing robot-agents are networked into the unique centralized system capable to share information (send and receive) with other agents in other regions/sectors. In general case, one or more robot-agents are „employed“ per one sector (e.g. Sector ’X’, Fig. 2).

Described multi-agent robotic-sensory system are ecology-friendly (no noise, no polution) and capable to perform different tasks of monitoring, surveillance, sensing and even manipulation, cooparting and sharing information within the system as well as with surveillance center. The tasks capable to be performed by the system are listed below: