Simple tech sensor swarm navigation
While researching sensor swarms, I came across a page over at the University of Notre Dame (EE Dept.) from their Mobile Sensing Systems Laboratory.
The principle is the comparative strength of two signals …
By comparing the received signal strength (RSSI) values in the master and slave nodes (via the left and right antennas respectively), the mobile agent can navigate towards an attractive beacon, or navigate away from a repel beacon.
What struck me is that the general principal was used for aircraft navigation starting in the early 1930’s. Whereas the Low Frequency Radio navigation for aircraft relied on two beacons and one receiver, the RSSI solution relies on one beacon and two receivers.
The preference of one of the other is mostly one of “control”. If you control the beacons and want to simplify the receivers, then a model similar to LFR has advantages. Whereas, if you want to track “others” beacons then the RSSI method has advantage.
For intelligence gathering, it is most likely there is more control over the sensor than the beacon. Further more, when building swarms of sensors, cost, disposability, flexibility (repurposing), and ubiquity are significant factors.
