The Mobile Sensing Systems laboratory is a research laboratory of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. Our main research areas include mobile sensor swarms, wireless sensor-actuator networks, and networked control systems.

·  Networked Sensing in Built and Natural Environments
   Funded by Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and

   Naval Surface Warfare Center - Crane Division  

Linear Task — A "leader" agent leading a group of "follower" agents moves along a sequence of waypoints until the target is reached. Then the group of followers will swarm around the target and senses potential contaminant (here: water). When the contaminant is found, the agent stops and collects data for some time before it moves around again. After the task is completed, the leader agent collects all follower agents and guides them back to the home base.

Convex Hull Task — A group of autonomous sensor agents swarm within a convex hull marked by four waypoints. All agents search for contaminants (here: water). If a contaminant is found by an agent, it will stop and start collecting data regarding the contaminant. After collecting data for some time, it will wake up and start moving and searching for new contaminants. All activities are carried out autonomously and collision-free (agents will avoid collisions with each other while they are swarming).

Two-Tier Task — A swarm of VEX-based agents is composed of two subsets: a high-density swarm that is initially on the outer perimeter of the "theatre of operation" and a low-density swarm that is initially close to the center.  Through emergent behavior, the high-density and the low-density swarm interchange their positioning, i.e., the high-density swarm moves to the center while the other swarm is pushed to the perimeter.

Contaminant Detection Task Using Beacon-Based Resource Allocation in Swarms — Radio beacons can be used to improve the search performance of a swarm. If a swarm agent detects a contaminant (here: water), it activates a beacon that attracts other agents to the area, while still maintaining its repel beacon for collision avoidance. There are two areas of contaminations, which after being detected by one agent, and are quickly "covered" by additional agents that are called to the area.