Speaker: Brian M. Sadler, US Army Senior Scientist for Intelligent Systems at the Army Research Laboratory
Title: Distributed Beamforming with Autonomous UGVs
Abstract: Multi-agent autonomy is emerging as an important component of first responder and tactical networks for disaster response and other scenarios, to provide advanced situational awareness from a distance, especially in challenging environments such as dense urban and indoor/outdoor settings. Critical to this vision is wireless connectivity able to penetrate buildings and other obstacles. This talk overviews recent advances in distributed beamforming among small low-power autonomous unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) to achieve longer range connectivity to a client. This includes adaptive beamforming with or without client feedback, timing and synchronization, and the relation with UGV team self-localization error. We focus on low VHF where meters-long wavelengths provide favorable penetration and propagation. Modeling, simulation, and experiments demonstrate the ability of UGVs to collaborate, establish a beamformer, and communicate with a client in non-line of sight.
Bio: Brian M. Sadler (Life Fellow, IEEE) received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Maryland, College Park, and the PhD degree from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, all in electrical engineering. He is the US Army Senior Scientist for Intelligent Systems, and a Fellow of the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) in Adelphi, MD. He is an IEEE Communications Society Distinguished Lecturer for 2020-2021, and was an IEEE Signal Processing Society Distinguished Lecturer for 2017-2018. He is currently a Guest Editor for a special issue of the IEEE Transactions on Robotics, and has been an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, IEEE SP Letters, and EURASIP Signal Processing, and a Guest Editor for IEEE JSTSP, the IEEE JSAC, the IEEE SP Magazine, Autonomous Robots, and the International Journal of Robotics Research. He received Best Paper Awards from the IEEE Signal Processing Society in 2006 and 2010, several ARL and Army R&D awards, and a 2008 Outstanding Invention of the Year Award from the University of Maryland. His research interests include networked and multi-agent autonomous intelligent systems.
Seminar Host: Sang Kim
Webinar Link: https://iastate.zoom.us/j/99252173695?pwd=dXRBWHhkdnZYYTdnajZVbzNzU2Zydz09
Webinar Recording: https://iastate.box.com/s/jfwepp9p524j2s8y62d3rd1x8d2qf7sw