Date of Award
2025
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (MSEE)
Department
Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering
First Advisor
Paolo Stegagno
Abstract
This study presents and validates Range of Communication Swarm SLAM(RCS-SLAM), a novel SLAM approach designed for multi-robot systems using minimal hardware. Unlike traditional methods that rely on range or bearing measurements, RCS-SLAM only uses the identifiers of nearby robots within communication range. In the front-end, each robot constructs an individual pose graph based on its own odometry, while recording communication events with neighboring robots. The key novelty lies in the use of one-hop communication, where robots not only detect nearby peers but also relay received identifiers, effectively acting as transmitters themselves. This mechanism extends the communication graph and enables the integration of indirect encounters into the pose graph optimization. In the back-end, communication constraints are introduced using a penalty-based method to transform the problem into an unconstrained optimization, allowing the use of state-of-the-art pose graph solvers. After optimization, the system produces a consistent global map of the environment. Experimental evaluations across three distinct exploration strategies demonstrate that RCS-SLAM achieves robust and accurate SLAM results. While comparable in performance to existing methods that use additional range measurements, RCS-SLAM significantly reduces hardware requirements and system cost, making it well-scalable for swarm robotics applications.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Koch, Felix B., "MINIMALISTIC COMMUNICATION-BASED SWARM SLAM" (2025). Open Access Master's Theses. Paper 2652.
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/theses/2652