Software improves connections to robots.

• Author: Jean, Grace V.
• Position: Battlefield Communications

Troops who rely on robots for various missions are increasingly being handicapped by limited radio ranges and airwaves jamming.

Small unmanned aerial vehicles and ground robots lack adequate onboard computing power to transmit communications efficiently in jammed or weak signal locations, says Garret Okamoto, president of Adaptive Communications Research Inc., based in San Diego.

Researchers at the company have developed software that can eliminate or reduce interference and extend transmission ranges on devices with limited hardware processors.

Radio signals typically bounce off walls and other objects in the environment before reaching the intended destination. That reduces the range and reliability of transmissions. Maximizing the signal while minimizing interference through a process called beamforming typically requires processors to compute algorithms at high speeds.

Okamoto says that the software his company is producing takes a non-traditional approach to the computation. A new algorithm called non-Eigen decomposition, or NED, allows beamforming with minimal computational resources. Because the solution requires less processing power, computationally limited systems such as UAVs and ground robots will be able to use beamforming to gain the benefits of interference mitigation, range improvement and battery-life extension.

"ACRi's NED beamforming algorithm uses less computations than current techniques because we do things in a completely new way," says Okamoto. "This is like how the compact fluorescent light bulbs are replacing standard incandescent light bulbs ... NED saves computational power without sacrificing much in performance [just as] the change in light bulbs saves electricity without sacrificing light."

The software is designed to work with existing hardware, Okamoto adds. It is being developed with a $100,000 small business innovation research grant from the National Science Foundation.

ACRi scientists are...