Communication-based Leashing of Real Flying Robots

Aerial robots are often required to remain within the communication range of a base station on the ground to exchange commands, sensor data or as a safety mechanism. For this purpose, we propose a minimal control strategy for steering flying robots using only communication hardware instead of additional sensors, such as GPS. Robots are virtually leashed to the base by measuring the rate at which they receive messages from the base and performing a reconnection behavior when this rate is too low for quality communication. Using the message rate as a metric is always feasible, independently of the wireless hardware used or the environment. Results show in theory and reality that the strategy can leash the robot to the base and resist to limited wind or base mobility.