The last decade has witnessed the advent of nanotechnology and advances in communications which made it technologically feasible and economically viable to develop low-power devices that integrate general-purpose computing with multipurpose sensing and wireless communication capabilities. Recently, in the attempt to apply wireless sensors to human activities it has been recognized that it would be beneficial to augment sensor networks with terrestrial or aerial mobile robots able to make complex decisions and take appropriate actions on themselves, sensors, and/or the environment. Such a new development would pave the way for various new applications and could allow mobile robots to assist sensor networks in fixing connectivity issues. They could, for example, act as a relay between disconnected network areas, by recharging/replacing sensors whose battery has depleted, offloading their data, and so on. Several approaches have been designed to either make these entities communicate more efficiently or perform dedicated cooperative tasks (e.g., mapping, exploration, and tracking). However, general concepts or solutions are still missing to realize the full potential of mobile robots such as robot integration in a sensor network, robot cooperation, controlled mobility management, energy management, or the managing the heterogeneity in hardware and communication technology.
The main goal of this special issue is to improve the understanding of the two challenging technologies, wireless networks, and mobile robotics. In particular, we welcome articles that discuss how mobile robots can foster and accelerate particular tasks in wireless networked systems (IoT, 5G, M2M, CPS, WSN, WSAN, etc.). We also encourage the submission of articles focusing on machine learning and big data analytics algorithms applied to communicating robots.
Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:
Robot integration in
Cloud, Fog, and Edge Computing Systems
IoT, Internet of robotic things
5G systems
Cyber-physical, Machine-to-Machine, and wireless sensor and actuator networks systems
Machine learning and big data analytics acceleration application to robotic networks
Robot and sensor assisted localization techniques
Robot deployment in smart environments
Robots in the context of Industry 4.0
Mobile Robotic Wireless Networks Applications and Testbeds
Secure communications in Mobile Robotic Wireless Networks
Cooperative control and communication for task assignment, goal achievement, consensus, and so on
Wireless and other energy harvesting applications of mobile robots
Information fusion in the context of Mobile Robotic Wireless Networks
Authors can submit their manuscripts through the Manuscript Tracking System at https://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/wcmc/rmwn/
Submission Deadline Friday, 8 March 2019
Publication Date July 2019
Papers are published upon acceptance, regardless of the Special Issue publication date.